Thelonius Monk News

Nica and Monk: A lyrical love story that plays so right November 25, 2009 Juicy and jammed with side men and side dishes, "The Jazz Baroness" has all the meat and the trimmings that make it a thanks-worthy special this holiday season on Nov.

"The Jazz Baroness" is a made-for-television documentary that traces the background and mutual influence of the inventor of Bebop, Thelonius Monk, and his great supporter, muse and mentor - Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, also known as Nica Rothschild.

Herbie Hancock remembers Pannonica, the Rothschild heir who so loved American jazz that she abandoned an aristocratic European life of castles where royalty dined, to live in New York, surrounded by cats , and make her rounds from club to club in pursuit of the music.

The smartest and most intriguing movie I've seen lately won't be playing at a theater near you.

Jazz legends John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Thelonius Monk all were revived, so to speak, at Woodland Regional High School's Ninth Annual Fall Fine Arts Night Tuesday.

The men of Straight No Chaser are natty dressers on stage, typically wearing suits and ties.

Here's to Art D'Lugoff, the great Village music impresario, the round and bearded political and artistic enthusiast, whose eclectic tastes educated more than one generation, and who died yesterday at 85.

A variety of musical styles and talents will take the stage this month for Angelina College's Fall Concert featuring the AC Swinging Roadrunner Jazz Band, the AC Concert Band and the Lufkin Community Band.

It had been a long road for Claude "Fiddler" Williams when I met him at Austin's Indigo's Restaurant and Bar in 1983.

Like the sweet jazz of Thelonius Monk, this week lets discuss a beer equally deep and layered.

We jazz and blues fans in this part of the Garden State are so lucky. We have choices.

Medeski, Martin and Wood is a jazz trio, but not in the same way you're used to thinking of jazz.

Pianist Lois Svard will perform in concert on Sept. 4 at 8 p.m. in the Weis Center for the Performing Arts at Bucknell University.

At the request of Dave Carroll, the musician whose song, "United Breaks Guitars," hit it big on YouTube, United will donate $3,000 to the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz.

Somers Point Jazz Society presents MONKadelphia The third event of the Blue Moon Brewery Summer Jazz Series sponsored by the Somers Point Jazz Society will be MONKadelphia, beginning 8 p.m. Sunday, July 12 at Gregory's Restaurant and Bar, 900 Shore Road, Somers Point.

MONTREUX, Switzerland - Eric Lewis, the hot American pianist who recently played for U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House, swept Montreux fans off their feet with a hard-hitting "rock-jazz" instrumental set.

Jazz is not dead - at least not when the Ed Palermo Big Band plays it. Part of the Cuneiform 'Contemporary Masters' series, Eddy Loves Frank is the third album to feature the music of Frank Zappa as arranged by Ed Palermo and performed by the Ed Palermo Big Band.

You have to love the idea of middle school-age kids who prefer Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk or Miles Davis to rappers and rock stars.

We asked two local jazz aficionados and experts to give their Top 10 "don't miss" performances from the festival.

It took nearly 10 years, but the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame found its home at the "home of science." Located in the old Kannapolis jailhouse, the hall of fame honors musicians, singers, songwriters and producers from the Old North State who have made contributions to American music.