Thelonious Monk - Criss-Cross (1980 Japanese CBS/Sony Vinyl LP)

Thelonious Monk - Criss-Cross | Vinyl LP - 1980 Japanese CBS/Sony Reissue (20AP 1812, Jazz Flash 50 Series)

• Monk's second Columbia album, re-recording eight of his classic compositions with the working quartet of Charlie Rouse, John Ore and Frankie Dunlop, produced by Teo Macero with liner notes by the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter
• Includes a seven-minute solo piano reading of "Don't Blame Me" and a trio performance of "Tea for Two" with Rouse sitting out, alongside quartet workouts on "Hackensack", "Rhythm-A-Ning" and the title track
• Japanese CBS/Sony pressing from the Jazz Flash 50 series, with Japanese insert including liner notes by Takashi Kubota

Monk had recorded most of these compositions before, on Prestige and Riverside throughout the 1950s. The originals sound like composition in progress, the sculptor still chiselling at the marble; these versions sound like finished works. The quartet had been together since 1959, and by the time these sessions took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio between November 1962 and March 1963, Rouse had developed an empathy with Monk's rhythmic and harmonic language that no other saxophonist had matched. "Hackensack" opens at a brisk tempo, Monk's piano cascading through percussive runs while Ore and Dunlop hold the foundation. "Tea for Two" follows as a trio, Rouse sitting out, Monk reshaping the Vincent Youmans standard until it barely resembles itself. "Criss-Cross" is the most artfully constructed piece on the record, the angular melody played in unison by Monk and Rouse before the solos diverge. "Eronel" closes Side A with a more lyrical feel, Rouse doubling the melody at the upper range of his horn in a way that adds width to the ensemble.

"Rhythm-A-Ning" opens Side B as the album's hardest-swinging track, Dunlop pushing the tempo with an energy that lifts the quartet. "Don't Blame Me" is a solo piano performance, seven minutes where Monk takes the Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields ballad apart and reassembles it with his full harmonic palette, the longest and most contemplative piece on the album. "Think of One" returns to the quartet with one of Monk's most recognisable melodies. "Crepuscule with Nellie", Monk's composition for his wife, closes the record at under three minutes, Rouse displaying an understanding of its contours that not even Sonny Rollins had found. Produced by Teo Macero, with original liner notes by the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter and photography by Sandy Speiser. This is the 1980 Japanese reissue on CBS/Sony (20AP 1812), from the Jazz Flash 50 series, with Japanese insert. Manufactured by CBS/Sony Inc.