Talking about Thelonious Monk’s music is never easy! He is Monk!  Whether he plays an up tempo tune or one of his killer ballads, he is always Monk!  Accompanied with the best and finest of the Jazz scene Monk creates musical landscapes instead of musical pieces!   The tunes on Soulville are one by one recorded in the late fifties! Around 1956-1959 to be correct and filtered from four different, sessions, Jazz Cat compiled 10 tracks that are quite enjoyable by all means!  From opener “Let’s Cool One”, to the well known “Moonlight Fiesta “ over “Honeysuckle Rose” to “Flugelin’ The Blues” these tunes are delivered with a flair that can only be found on a record where Thelonious Monk helps out!

A handful of the tunes on this record comes from the session with Oscar Pettiford & Art Blakey in 1957 while the majority can be tracked down to a session recorded two years later with Clark Terry.  The first comes without doubt from his cooperation with Blakey and his Jazz messengers in 1957 (Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk,Atalantic 1957).  These recordings are probably outtakes from the studio recordings made for that Atlantic album. The second part record with Clark Terry, Sam Jones & Philly Joe Jones could be tracked down to the recordings of  “In Orbit” where Monk plays as a side man for Clark Terry on this 1958 album. Although stated on the cover as recordings made in 1956 it is very doubtfull this inforamtion is correct. All but one tune comes from the “In Orbit” session.  “You are to Beautifull” comes indeed from around 1956 and was issued on the second album Thelonius monk released for riverside.

The fact stays however that this music is quite timeless and very accessible, even for those who are not that much into jazz.  A nice release of outtakes and assorted tracks that without doubt were released earlier on a numerous of compilations and common albums!  However the fact that they are compiled in a different order and brought together in a new jacked proves once more that even more then 50 years after their original release an interest for this music is out there. It seems that even in harsh times like these it is still worth putting you neck out and releasing albums with cool music!

Mr Blue Boogie