• 180-gram vinyl
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
• Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket

• One of seven standout Thelonious Monk albums from the Riverside Records catalog!
• Mastered AAA by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tape


Despite various reissue formats over several decades, the seven original LPs contained in Thelonious Monk — The Riverside Tenor Sessions stood perfectly well on their own at the time of initial release and remain among the highest achievements of a truly golden age. Recorded and released between 1956 and 1961, these seven Monk combo albums were critical in Monk's emergence from a decade of ridicule and neglect to his status at the pinnacle of the jazz pantheon.

5 by Monk by 5 was deliberately conceived and executed as a quintet album. The "five" are made up of what was, at the time of the 1959 sessions, Monk's regular working quartet plus Thad Jones. That is to say, a well-integrated unit  with a striking added voice absorbed into it. The album consists of two new Monk compositions and reworkings of three earlier numbers.

This is a classic album with a lively quintet that includes Monk, piano; Thad Jones, cornet; Sam Jones, bass; Art Taylor, drums and the amazing Charlie Rouse, tenor sax — here just beginning a very fruitful association with Monk — and really adding a lot to the session with some incredible tenor work that's as angular and modern as needed for Monk's work, yet with a soulful edge that really brings a lot to the music. The album's got five long tracks — hence the title — and they're all Monk classics that include "I Mean You," "Ask Me Now," "Jackie-ing," and "Straight No Chaser."

PERSONNEL:

Thelonious Monk - (piano)
Thad Jones - (cornet)
Charlie Rouse - (tenor sax)
Sam Jones - (bass)
Art Taylor - (drums)

New York City, June 1 & 2, 1959

TRACKS:

A1. Jackie-ing
A2. Straight, No Chaser
A3. Played Twice (take 3)

B1. I Mean You
B2. Ask Me Now