{"product_id":"thelonious-monk-the-classic-quartet","title":"Thelonious Monk - The Classic Quartet","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Classic Quartet captures Thelonious Monk's working band in Tokyo in 1963, remastered and pressed on 180-gram vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese performances were taped for Japanese television during Monk's tour of the country that year, played without an audience and issued in various forms before finding a home at Candid. They shouldn't be confused with Monk in Tokyo, the concert album from the same trip. What you get here is the quartet in a studio-like setting, relaxed and focused: Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Butch Warren on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums, a lineup that knew Monk's tunes so well they could bend them at will.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Epistrophy\" opens with that lurching, unmistakable theme, the band locked in from the first bar. \"Evidence\" is all jagged stops and starts, with Dunlop relishing every odd accent, and \"Just a Gigolo\" offers a short, playful turn full of sly wit. The closing \"Blue Monk\" stretches past eleven minutes, an easy, rolling blues that shows how much fun this band had playing together.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShort on fuss and big on personality, this is Monk at his most approachable. It's a vivid snapshot of a great quartet near the end of its run, and the remastering lets every chord ring out clearly.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alliance Entertainment","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57327160983857,"sku":"708857355112","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0704\/2026\/7313\/files\/Thelonious_Monk-The_Classic_Quartet.jpg?v=1793877244","url":"https:\/\/vinyl.com\/products\/thelonious-monk-the-classic-quartet","provider":"Vinyl.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}