Jazz Connection Magazine

T. S. Monk And His Band Grooves High At The Kennedy Center's Intimate KC Jazz Club In Washington, D.C.

T. S. Monk, above, greeted fans and signed CDs after each performance

during his two-day stint at the Kennedy Center's KC Jazz Club.

- Photo by Stephen Fratallone/Jazz Connection Magazine

T. S. Monk told the audience at the intimate KC Jazz Club in Washington, D.C.'s, Kennedy Center that when he acts in his capacity as Chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, he is in T. S. Monk, Jr.-mode. When playing drums and fronting his own six-piece band, he is in T. S. Monk-mode.

It was the latter "mode" that the packed house of 160 listeners grooved to while being treated to some very hip-sounding hard bop style jazz.

During the fleeting 70-minute set in his second show on Saturday, March 5, the son of the "father of modern jazz" presented what he said would be "a few different looks on jazz."

One may immediately assume that Thelonious Sphere Monk III would have devoted his shows to the musical genius of his revered father, Thelonious Sphere Monk II, but that wasn't the case here. In fact, only one tune from the Monk canon graced the set list: Round Midnight. While the song is usually treated as a ballad ("When I play it slow using brushes, it feels like I'm washing dishes," Monk, Jr. said), it was performed in an up-beat tempo, compliments of an arrangement by legendary drummer Max Roach, with whom the younger Monk studied privately. Monk Jr., told the audience that when his mother, Nellie, heard Roach's arrangement of the tune, she said her late husband (who died in 1982) would have approved.

Four other selections balanced out the set including an unidentified song, Que-O, a work by the late, great trombonist, J. J. Johnson, and Clifford Jordan's Bear Cat, a swinging piece emphasizing the powerful ensemble sound by the band. Monk. Jr. has a special place in his heart for Jordan. Not only is Monk, Jr., a veteran of Jordan's band from the early 1990s, but it was Jordan who helped the drummer reconnect with the jazz community after a break with music.

"Clifford Jordan allowed me to play and I play Clifford Jordan's music," Monk said.

Tenor saxophonist and Philadelphia native Willie Williams was featured on the pretty ballad tune, Someone To Watch Over Me. Backed only by pianist Helen Sung and bassist James King (a D.C. local and last minute replacement for regular bassist David Jackson who was suddenly taken ill), Williams' warm and imaginative playing seemed to mesmerize the audience. However, sometimes too much of a good thing may detract instead of enhance as to what an artist may be trying to say musically. Unfortunately, Williams succumbed to that trap. The gifted saxophonist could have ended his performance eight choruses earlier and it still would have spoken volumes. As Charlie Parker once remarked concerning his take on improvisation: "If you can't say it in four choruses, you ain't saying it."

Monk's role on the traps during the evening was one of support rather than one of feature. He didn't solo (save for a brief "obbligato" toward the end of Round Midnight), but rather, let his band speak for itself highlighting individual soloists and showcasing the band's tight ensemble work.

The evening's set also included some substantial musical remarks from alto saxophonist Bobby Porcelli, an original member of T. S. Monk's sextet; trumpeter Tanya Darby, who shared performance duties with fellow trumpeter Winston Byrd, who worked the two March 4 shows; and Helen Sung, a alumna of the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Jazz Connection Magazine . March 2005 . www.jazzconnectionmag.com