SoundWrangler Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 ...recent parlour game (inspired by recent obsessive relistening of "Monk AloneThe Complete Solo Studio Recordings", which has understandably warped our minds). Contribute your own! As a solo pianist, Thelonious Monk playing a "standard" is like... 1. Finding an alarm clock, "oh, this is interesting, I wonder how it works?', immediately taking it apart and reassembling it into something with a completely different purpose. 2. A lead sheet on a Rubik cube. 3. Slipping in some horseradish, pineapple, and pickled garlic and Pop-Tarts into the existing harmonic "sandwich", just to see what happens. 4. A 3-D labyrinth in zero gravity... 5. How alien squids might play jazz on their octagonal keyboards (if the recordings on the Voyager record had contained more jazz selections than just one Louis Armstrong song). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan South Posted February 3, 2004 Share Posted February 3, 2004 Monk playing a "standard" is like Salvador Dali painting a version of a Norman Rockwell magazine cover. The Black Knight always triumphs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeronyne Posted February 3, 2004 Share Posted February 3, 2004 This is actually a Thelonius Monk simile thread. Here's a metaphor: A standard played by Monk is a giant shark using chopsticks to braid the hair of a singing nun. "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundWrangler Posted February 4, 2004 Author Share Posted February 4, 2004 Originally posted by zeronyne: This is actually a Thelonius Monk simile thread. I knew THAT was coming! OK, simile, metaphor, & surreality show thread... Did you ever wonder if Thelonious Monk was actually some sort of vehicle, piloted by (musically-inclined) aliens resembling unusual hats? "Like" evolution, Monk playing a standard is a tornado blowing through a junkyard and coincidentally assembling a 747. (Thanks to Fred Hoyle, for this brilliantly unforgettable image for a wrong idea.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeronyne Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 You know this thread caught my eye because I'm the farthest thing from a jazz fan. I'm sorry...I REALLY REALLY respect the command of the instrument that great jazz players have and I fully appreciate the intricate vocabulary that is being utilized in every good jazz tune or performance, but the intangibles leave me cold. there are a few exceptions, but nothing that would deviate from my self-generalization. You can call me unsophisticated, but I don't think that anyone who knows me would call me that. Anyway, the exception is Monk. I could listen to Criss Cross or the Essential Collection continuously. He's wildly complex and completely accessible at the same time. Which is why we are speaking in metaphors, right? "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burlingame2 Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 Zeronyne, there is no such thing as being the farthest from liking Thelonious. Although you may have enjoyed the responses, you just don`t of that know for sure. I do think it sensable to fess up without dissing a club in the works of say `I will dislike jazz by Herbie if you do`. Statements aren`t always called upon to be reasonable, but to present a point of view meant to be humorous. There may be the phrase occasionally used `yes, I enjoy bebop I know a few players, as long as they leave their axe at home`. It is like me depending on having a sense of humor, than would bring me to dangerous waters. If I may be bold, this was one attempt. Thanks, I`d rather not know the outcome. That may well mean the chance of my being droll are more likely than one of myrth. Each to their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dementia13 Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 Shards of a stained glass picture, cleverly rearranged so as to mockingly resemble the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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