The Jimmy Owens: The Monk Project has been in the making for quite a while. It is the latest among recent projects that explore the music of the late great Thelonious Monk. Owens plays trumpet and flugelhorn and is joined on this album by the likes of Marcus Strickland on tenor saxophone, Howard Johnson on tuba, Wycliffe Gordon on trombone and Kenny Barron on piano. Every song on the album was written by Thelonious Monk with the exception of Duke Ellington's It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing).
Owens horn playing is strong and vibrant and Barron's piano is warm and distinctive. Marcus Strickland and Howard Johnson deliver the goods as well. Monk's signature song Epistrophy is the final song of the 9 songs on the album. It is probably the best of the tracks. Wycliffe Gordon plays some outstanding trombone on this track. Some of the songs on this album include: Bright Mississippi, Blue Monk, Brilliant Corners, Reflections, Stuffy Turkey and Let's Cool One.
This project demonstrates how gifted a musician and composer Thelonious Monk was. He definitely had an influence on Jimmy Owens. Jimmy Owens: The Monk Project is nice to listen to and is an album for your jazz collection. The album is scheduled for release on January 12, 2012. Jimmy Owens website is http://www.jimmyowensjazz.com.
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