Recorded during a German tour in 1996,
Schlippenbach Plays Monk teams the esteemed pianist with
Ino Nobuyoshi on bass and
Sunny Murray on drums.
Schlippenbach has played with both sidemen previously (
Nobuyoshi can be heard with the
Schlippenbach/
Takase-led
Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra and
Murray on the excellent FMP album
Smoke) but this tour was the first that brought them all together and the pairing brings an interesting dynamic to the often revisited
Thelonious Monk songbook.
Murray is the better known of the two, his wide open sense of time played a pivotal roll in the initial wellspring of the avant-garde in his work with
Cecil Taylor,
Albert Ayler, and on his own as a leader, too.
Nobuyoshi is no slouch either and is one of the most in-demand bassists in Japan, playing with
Kazumi Watanabe,
Masayuki Takayanagi,
Aki Takase and perhaps most notably with
Lester Bowie. Of the two,
Nobuyoshi is the more transmutable player, able to slip in and out of mainstream and outside playing with a deceptive ease while maintaining a distinctly confident approach;
Murray isn't limited to one style of play either, but whether he's swinging cool or burning his wings ascending to the sun, one crash of the cymbal and he is recognizable as no one else other than
Sunny Murray. And on their collective tight-wire of precision and fire rides is
Schlippenbach in a loving set that is probably the closest thing to a straight tribute to
Monk that he has been recorded. It's closer to his standards quartet work on
Night and Day than his typical trio recordings with
Paul Lovens and
Evan Parker, but the trio does step out of its reverent circle on "Trinkle Tinkle" -- a favorite of the pianists that he and
Murray cut on
Smoke as well -- "Skippy" and "Light Blue."
Schlippenbach explains his interpretation of these songs quite well in the liner notes, the summarized version could be described as reveling in
Monk's atonal points of departure.
Monk in fact, is a constant point of departure and return for
Schlippenbach and fully immersed in
Thelonious as he is here, he is rapturous; may he have many returns.