Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser

Starring:Larry Gales, John Coltrane, Tommy Flanagan (II), Barry Harris, Harry Colomby, Samuel E. Wright, Charlie Rouse, Nellie Monk, Ray Copeland, Johnny Griffin, Bob Jones (IV), Nica De Koenigswarter, Ben Riley, Thelonious Monk Jr., Jimmy Cleveland, Teo Macero, Phil Woods, Frank Paccione, Thelonious Monk
Director: Charlotte Zwerin
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
This exemplary documentary about seminal jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk reaps the benefits of multiple blessings, including the skilled editorial hand of director Charlotte Zwerin and the patronage of executive producer (and erstwhile jazz pianist) Clint Eastwood. Most vital is the use of extensive 1968 footage, shot by Michael and Christian Blackwood, documenting the sometimes moody, sometimes puckish Monk in the studio, on tour, and off stage, which on its own would make this essential jazz viewing.

In post-World War II America, few cultural upheavals matched bebop for sheer exhilaration. Spawned by jazz musicians whose paydays typically came with larger swing ensembles, bop was as much bastard as stepchild, refining the technical ambitions of its parent while breaking free of swing's formalism to play fast and loose with harmony, melody, and tempo. That mercurial spirit made heroes of high-flying, technically flamboyant players like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. Monk, by contrast, was as distinctive for his silences, crafting often skeletal melodies distinguished by unexpected, skewed harmonies. At one point dubbed the "high priest of bebop," he was more Zen archer, threading notes, warping chord structure, or stabbing "wrong" keys with a seeming looseness that in hindsight sounds as precise as haiku.

Amazon.com essential video

This exemplary documentary about seminal jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk reaps the benefits of multiple blessings, including the skilled editorial hand of director Charlotte Zwerin and the patronage of executive producer (and erstwhile jazz pianist) Clint Eastwood. Most vital is the use of extensive 1968 footage, shot by Michael and Christian Blackwood, documenting the sometimes moody, sometimes puckish Monk in the studio, on tour, and off stage, which on its own would make this essential jazz viewing.

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser provides an intelligent portrait of this often reclusive, sometimes difficult artist, including telling glimpses of his volatility. A stormy studio session with Teo Macero, then Columbia Records' preeminent jazz producer, speaks volumes about Monk's very private approach to his muse. Perceptive interviews and glimpses of Monk's sunnier moments provide added depth, yet the real triumph is the generous catalog of classic Monk songs captured on camera. --Sam Sutherland

Description

Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser. Filmmaker Bruce Ricker couldn't believe his luck. Michael and Christian Blackwood's extensive 1968 footage of the groundbreaking modern jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, including the only footage of the very private Monk off stage, was in excellent condition. The reels were, in Ricker's words, "just sitting there like the Dead Sea Scrolls of jazz." Ricker, as co-producer, joins director and fellow producer Charlotte Zwerin (Gimme Shelter), executive producer Clint Eastwood and others to bring these scrolls to astonishing life. Their Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser combines the Blackwood's rare footage of Monk in studio on tour and behind the scenes with new interviews, archival photos and more to create a landmark aural and visual treat.Tunes in order of appearance: Evidence; Rhythm-a-ning; On the Bean; Round Midnight; Well, You Needn't; Bright Mississippi; Blue Monk; Trinkle, Tinkle; Rhythm-a-ning; Ugly Beauty; Ask Me Now; Just a Gigolo; Crepuscule with Nellie; I Should Care; We See; Osaka T.; Evidence; Epistrophy, Don't Blame Me; Ruby, My Dear; I Mean You; Lulu's Back in Town; Off Minor; Pannonica; Boo Boo's Birthday; Misterioso; Monk's Mood; Sweetheart of All My Dreams; Round Midnight. Year: 1988 Director: Charlotte Zwerin

Customer Reviews:

Monk portrait.......2007-06-08

Excellent movie if your interest is for jazz music and Monk.
The movie portraits Monk in various stages of his career.
A great deal of music as well as a great deal of jazz history. All with the epicenter in Monk of cause.
It was hard to get for some years in VHS but with this release it is luckily again available.
Another interesting thing from a movie perspective is the fact that the producer is Clint Eastwood.

Stellaronious. .......2007-02-26

At first I wasn't sure what to think about this documentary with its sparse narration and pasting together of various production sequences, but after about 40 minutes I became hooked. Straight No Chaser captures Thelonious Monk as a human being which is something one could never do based on his music. The songs alone would make one mistake him for an angel. Here, the stammering, lost, frail genius is fully evident and contextualized in his own voice and through the opinions of those who knew him. I found his son's remarks to be of great value as viewers can tell that he had a very complex and conflictual relationship with his father. This is to be expected given that Monk had schizophrenia. Luckily, the documentary does not shy away from his condition and the realities of how debilitated he must have been for so much of his life. That he was able to put together the brilliant musical arrangements he did is quite extraordinary. The family story is compelling as well. Clearly, without his wife there is no way in which Monk could have been anywhere near as successful as he was. Best of all is the music--reproduced here with seemingly endless life performances. Seeing the artist at work is what made the movie for me.

Thelonious Monk.......2007-01-11

It's really a good and thorough dvd allthough there is nothing about the music Straight, No Chaser. That's a shame, but it doesn't devalue the dvd. Now after viewing it I really understand who Monk where. I recommend it.

A True Jewel.......2007-01-01

By any and all standards Thelonious Monk belongs amongst the most unique musicians and composers ever produced by this country. Thanks to Clint Eastwood, Monk's genius and odd behaviour will be preserved for future generations in a way that books could never hope to completely portray. The outstanding thing about Monk was his uniqueness and individuality. Yes he could play with other musicians and he could play compositions by other composers but regardless of what he played or who he played with, you always knew it was Monk. Others copied him but no one duplicated him and sadly there are very, very few artists/composers out there today with an original sound or style. I wish more people would wake up to the true genius of Monk and that may happen one day. And if it does, Mr. Eastwood should get a great deal of credit for his efforts and support.

An excellent film.......2006-10-30

Eastwood is a well known jazz lover and unfortunaely it takes a big name to get a good film made about jazz, so there aren't many around of such high quality. The great thing about jazz films is that you can play them over and over and you don't always have to be watching, even though this one is more than just music. Eastwood should make more profiles like this - there are many neglected jazz greats out there who need the bump. Highly recommended.

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