Thelonious Monk - Plays Duke Ellington

"Plays Duke Ellington" by Thelonious Monk is a series of Duke Ellington songs played by Thelonious Monk, along with Oscar Pettiford on bass and Kenny Clarke and drums. From reading into this album a bit, it looks as though this was Monk's first record with the Riverside label, and was an attempt at playing something that wasn't strange, or odd as some of his previous works have been looked upon. So he took it under his belt to play a series of Duke Ellington songs. Thelonious is still yet amazing in this CD, playing very delicately with subtle pauses and excellent phrasing. I really enjoyed listening to the great Monk play songs written by Duke Ellington.

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