The Unique Thelonious Monk

The Unique Thelonious Monk is a 1956 album by Thelonious Monk.[5] It was his second for Riverside Records, and like his Riverside debut, is made up of standards. It was a continuation of Riverside's strategy to broaden consumer interest in Monk by having him record cover versions of well-known material which, Riverside hoped, would help to break down the prevailing perception that Monk's original music was "too difficult" for mass-market acceptance.

The Unique Thelonious Monk
Studio album by
Thelonious Monk
Released1956[1]
RecordedMarch 17 and April 3, 1956
GenreJazz
LabelRiverside
ProducerOrrin Keepnews
Thelonious Monk chronology
Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington
(1956)		 The Unique Thelonious Monk
(1956)		 Brilliant Corners
(1957)
Original cover
Cover of the original 1956 release. The "postage stamp" cover was used for pressings from 1958 onward.[3]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]

The Riverside publicist Billie Wallington used a marketing ploy, at the time of the first re-issue, of mass-printing the stamp featured on the cover art. Riverside distributed sheets of 100 stamps, some of which even made their way through the United States Postal Service despite being larger than regulation size. Standard stamps of the era were under an inch wide and high; the Monk stamp is 1-9/16" high by 1-3/8" wide. In 1956 it took a 3-cent stamp to carry a 1st Class letter. Riverside's Monk stamp had a 3 in the lower left and a 3-1/3 in the lower right. The promotional stamps are scarce today. Monk would subsequently be featured on a genuine stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 1995.[6]

Track listing

Side One

  1. "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)" (George & Ira Gershwin, Gus Kahn) – 3:11
  2. "Memories of You" (Eubie Blake, Andy Razaf) – 4:15
  3. "Honeysuckle Rose" (Fats Waller, Andy Razaf) – 5:32
  4. "Darn That Dream" (Eddie DeLange, James Van Heusen) – 6:30

Side Two

  1. "Tea for Two" (Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar) – 5:52
  2. "You Are Too Beautiful" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 4:53
  3. "Just You, Just Me" (Jesse Greer, Raymond Klages) – 7:59

Personnel

References
  1. "The Unique Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  2. Kelley, Robin D.G. (2009). Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. New York: Free Press. p. 249.
  3. Kelley, Robin D.G. (2009). Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. New York: Free Press. p. 249.
  4. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  5. Yanow, Scott (May 8, 2000). "Bebop". Hal Leonard Corporation – via Google Books.
  6. "Thelonious Monk". U.S. Stamp Gallery. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
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