The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk is a box set by American jazz pianist Thelonious Monk compiling his recordings for Blue Note first released as a limited four-LP box set on Mosaic Records in 1983 before being issued as a four-CD box set by Blue Note for the first time in 1994 as The Complete Blue Note Recordings.[1][2]
Monk recorded six sessions for Blue Note, all produced by Alfred Lion: October 15 and 24, 1947, November 21, 1947, July 2, 1948, July 23, 1951, and May 30, 1952.[3] All sessions were recorded by Doug Hawkins at WOR Studios, except July 2, 1948, recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at his home studio. He also appeared as a sideman on two tracks for Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (1954).[3][4] Two Thelonious Monk Quartet concerts, featuring John Coltrane and backed by a rhythm section of bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik and drummers Shadow Wilson or Roy Haynes, have also been released on Blue Note: one recorded on November 29, 1957 at Carnegie Hall (with Shadow Wilson), the other on September 11, 1958 at the Five Spot Café (with Roy Haynes).
After 10"s lost the format war, Blue Note began reissuing its Modern Jazz Series on 12"s. Material from the two ten-inches, the 1952 session, and other outtakes were recompiled on Genius of Modern Music, Vol. One (BLP 1510) and Genius of Modern Music, Vol. Two (BLP 1511).
The complete studio recordings were released for the first time on the Mosaic release in 1983. In 1989, Blue Note reissued the studio recordings on CD as Genius of Modern Music, Vols. One & Two, minus the 1948 Milt Jackson session (concurrently reissued in its entirety on Milt Jackson: Wizard of the Vibes) and the two 1954 Sonny Rollins tracks. In 1993, Blue Note released the September 11, 1958 recording as Discovery! Live at the Five Spot. The following year Blue Note issued the box set The Complete Blue Note Recordings on CD, compiling the six sessions and two Rollins tracks on the first three discs, and Five Spot concert on the fourth. The Carnegie performance, still sitting preserved at the Library of Congress, wouldn't be discovered and released until September 27, 2005.
This magnificent limited-edition set launched the Mosaic label in real style.... Since these were Monk's first opportunities to lead his own recording dates, this set includes the original versions of such classics as "Ruby, My Dear," "Well You Needn't," "Off Minor," "In Walked Bud," "Evidence," "Criss Cross" and "Straight No Chaser" along with Monk's first chance to record "'Round Midnight" and "Epistrophy." The sidemen include such notables as trumpeters Kenny Dorham and Idrees Sulieman, drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, altoist Lou Donaldson and tenor-saxophonist Lucky Thompson, but it is the unique pianist/composer who is the main star. Many of these recordings (generally the master takes) has been reissued in other forms by Blue Note.[2]
