GW 948 reviewed in Acoustic Guitar

Few jazz composers have created a body of work as imaginative and offbeat as that of Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982). A pianist whose technique was as unorthodox as his writing, Monk viewed melodies, chords, and rhythms as ambiguous symbols to be twisted, bent, and reinvented into something new and strangely beautiful. Unlike the music of some of his bebop contemporaries, which is layered with busy, rapid-fire modal expressions, Monk’s melodies and solos are sparse and primitive, yet they have a deep sense of musical logic and artistry that transcends the bebop label and appeals to musicians and listeners of almost every ilk.

The implied simplicity of Monk’s music makes it especially appealing to fingerstyle guitarists, yet anyone who’s tried unraveling his dissonant voicings and jaunty melodies will tell you that it’s not as easy as it sounds. A new video from Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop offers a clear and detailed lesson in playing three classic Monk compositions (“‘Round About Midnight,” “Blue Monk,” and “Light Blue”) and a distinctive Monk interpretation (“Lulu’s Back in Town”) as guitar solos.

Watching Monk is as much fun as listening to him, and viewers are treated to excerpts of a 1966 performance filmed in Oslo, Norway, featuring Monk at the piano with Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums... It is fascinating and valuable to watch Monk play the piece before delving into Baker’s arrangement.

Naturally, there is a difference between the rhythmic feel of what Baker is doing and the Monk performances. With Gales and Riley providing a swinging, rock-solid foundation, Monk is free to play as far off the beat as he wants, where Baker’s rhythm tends to swing with more of a concise, ragtime feel. Baker’s success in arranging these tunes lies more in how he captures the chromatic feel, moving bass, and dissonant sound of Monk’s music in a way that makes perfect sense on the guitar.

Not that everything Baker lays out for the viewer is easy to play; some of the fingerings in “Light Blue” are a stretch even for accomplished players. Yet in most cases he offers suggestions for less-strenuous alternate fingerings in his neighborly, off-the-cuff manner. As with most of Grossman’s Guitar Workshop videos, split-screen camera work makes it easy to see what’s going on with both hands at once.

Baker’s beautiful rendering of “‘Round About Midnight,” perhaps the most frequently recorded of Monk’s compositions, is a great study in the way Monk structured chords. As Baker points out, this tune actually has a relatively normal chord pattern, yet Monk managed to make all the chords slightly dissonant to give it the dark, brooding feel that is so appealing. Any fingerstyle guitarist would do well to add this arrangement to his or her repertoire.

Near the end of the video, Baker emphasizes the importance of listening to the many recordings Monk made throughout his career. “There’s so much going on in his music that’ll never get into a transcription, particularly a fake book,” Baker says. “I really don’t feel like I’ve done more than scratch the surface of what this man has done musically. Indeed, to do more than that would be a lifetime study on any instrument.”