Hear Barry Harris, Garry Giddens, and Ira Gitler sharing their experiences of Thelonious Monk
An excerpt from the documentary Barry Harris: The Spirit of Bebop (1999)....
Checkerboard Film Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
BARRY HARRIS: Monk laid in that bed right there, and he stayed there from--quite a while--10 years or somethin' like that, you know.
IRA GITLER: I think there was a period when they were--when Monk was practicing and Barry would listen to him and also where they would exchange choruses on the piano. But that was a little earlier on. In the last period I don't think Monk was doing much of anything. He was in a--an extreme depression.
GARY GIDDENS: The New York Jazz Repertory Company was the first attempt at having a permanent repertory band.
BARRY HARRIS: He hadn't gotten up really to play. So when we were having this big concert at Carnegie Hall . . .
GARY GIDDENS: One of the highlights was a concert of Thelonious Monk's music. And Monk was invited to play it, but Monk had already become a recluse. Nobody anticipated him showing [laughter] up. So they--they asked Barry to play the piano.
BARRY HARRIS: It was all Monk's music and Paul Jeffrey's. We had strings and everything and big arrangements, and I'd gone to rehearsal after rehearsal.
GARY GIDDENS: They wrote a series of concertos--based on Monk's tunes--that would feature the piano against the scrim of strings on the left side of the stage and a big band in the center and to the right.
BARRY HARRIS: I said to Monk--I say, "You sure you don't want to get up and play this concert tomorrow?" And he said . . . He didn't answer.
GARY GIDDENS: Two minutes before the curtain went up, we're all sitting in our seats--all 11 of us, and Barry is waiting to be introduced--and Monk just came out of nowhere; and he Walked right by him onto the stage; played two hours. It was unbelievable.
BARRY HARRIS: So one thing I could say I got paid free [laughter], you know. But he played the gig. It was nice, too. He played good, too.
[Music]
IRA GITLER: I think there was a period when they were--when Monk was practicing and Barry would listen to him and also where they would exchange choruses on the piano. But that was a little earlier on. In the last period I don't think Monk was doing much of anything. He was in a--an extreme depression.
GARY GIDDENS: The New York Jazz Repertory Company was the first attempt at having a permanent repertory band.
BARRY HARRIS: He hadn't gotten up really to play. So when we were having this big concert at Carnegie Hall . . .
GARY GIDDENS: One of the highlights was a concert of Thelonious Monk's music. And Monk was invited to play it, but Monk had already become a recluse. Nobody anticipated him showing [laughter] up. So they--they asked Barry to play the piano.
BARRY HARRIS: It was all Monk's music and Paul Jeffrey's. We had strings and everything and big arrangements, and I'd gone to rehearsal after rehearsal.
GARY GIDDENS: They wrote a series of concertos--based on Monk's tunes--that would feature the piano against the scrim of strings on the left side of the stage and a big band in the center and to the right.
BARRY HARRIS: I said to Monk--I say, "You sure you don't want to get up and play this concert tomorrow?" And he said . . . He didn't answer.
GARY GIDDENS: Two minutes before the curtain went up, we're all sitting in our seats--all 11 of us, and Barry is waiting to be introduced--and Monk just came out of nowhere; and he Walked right by him onto the stage; played two hours. It was unbelievable.
BARRY HARRIS: So one thing I could say I got paid free [laughter], you know. But he played the gig. It was nice, too. He played good, too.
[Music]