This commentator has always wondered why trumpeter/flugelhornist Jimmy Owens hasn't been more successful with jazz audiences. It's probably due, at least in part, to his devotion to jazz education and advocacy. This devotion is the impetus for his latest work on IPO Recordings, The Monk Project.
Fully outfitted with a dream septet, Owens gives us a different kind of "Thelonious Monk experience": one that isn't slavishly tied to the originals, which can be easily found at your corner record store; say, Twist and Shout, Denver's best independent record store. No, Owens puts a different touch on each of the nine Monk originals, augmented as they are with an arrangement of Monk's trio version of Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" for septet.
To start with the Ellington piece, the arrangement was written by Owens' student Jack Ramsey. And if you have (as this writer does) Monk's Riverside debut album, "Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington", it's easy enough to check Ramsey's work. And, to find it first-rate. The student's use of the horns to emulate Monk's pianistic endeavors is truly something to hear. Bravo, Mr. Ramsey!
On the Monk originals, Owens is truly fortunate to have pianist Kenny Barron on board. Any jazz album would be better for Barron's attachment to it. But Barron's ace-in-the hole is his participation in the group, Sphere, during the 1980's, right after Monk's death (in 1982). Besides being Thelonious Monk's middle name, Sphere was also the name of a tribute group, in which Barron essentially "filled in" for the late Monk with his final quartet. Needless to say, Kenny Barron is impeccable throughout this album.
The other players on The Monk Project make themselves known on practically every cut. Owens himself cuts a fine figure on trumpet or flugelhorn, especially on the loping "Well, You Needn't", and "Let's Cool One", which is taken in waltz-time.
Saxophonist Marcus Strickland, leader of the #9 album on this writer's "Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2011", Triumph of the Heavy, shows himself more than capable of handling Monk's demanding rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic turns every chance he gets. On "Blue Monk", he travels the historical arc from Ben Webster to Albert Ayler, and back again. And on "Stuffy Turkey", "Let's Cool One", and the legendary "Brilliant Corners", Strickland gets in touch with his "inner Sonny Rollins". Look for Marcus Strickland to become his generation's "Saxophone Colossus".
Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon steals "Blue Monk" and "Brilliant Corners" with plunger-muted solos that would make "Tricky Sam" Nanton green with envy. Gordon is also capable of less dramatic artistry on "Let's Cool One" and plays gorgeously on the sweet ballad "Reflections", the album's penultimate cut.
Multi-instrumentalist Howard Johnson (my God, is he really 70?) allows the Jimmy Owens, the arranger, to use Johnson's low-end prowess (he plays tuba, baritone saxophone and, even though it's not listed in the album notes, I know I heard bass clarinet on "Pannonica") to color his creations. Johnson helped Owens get a kind of "Birth of the Cool" sound on "Pannonica", "Let's Cool One", and "Reflections".
The rhythm section of bassist Kenny Davis, a very melodic soloist and sure-footed linchpin for the ensemble, and Winard Harper, who was a perfect choice for this project due to his Art Blakey-like exuberant skill. Blakey was probably Monk's favorite drummer, and Harper would have fit Monk's needs like a glove. Bassist Davis, though not credited on the liner notes, sounds like he's playing electric bass on "Epistrophy", the album's final cut.
And, it's a perfect final cut for this wonderful tribute, with a rocking and rolling (although not rock and roll) feeling for an "everybody in the pool" rejoicing of the life and music of the great Thelonious Monk. Oh, while you're at "Twist and Shout" picking up this album, why not walk the twenty or so feet over to the Tattered Cover Book Store, and pick up Robin D. G. Kelley's unparalleled biography, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original? You can read about, and listen to, the genius of a Great American Artist.
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