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[upbeat music]
[music continues]
"Thelonious...
"Thelonious Sphere.
"born 1918, question mark.
U.S. Jazz pianist and composer."
It appears you're famous, Thelonious.
That's what that means?
'Yeah. They list all the Popes in here..'
'...and presidents.'
You're famous, then they put you in-in-in, uh..
In this book.
Well, I'm famous. Ain't that a bitch?
[male narrator] Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1917.
Moved to New York city in 1922
with his mother and family.
They settled in the West 60s
in a neighborhood called San Juan Hill.
The pianist James P. Johnson lived there
and Eubie Blake's musical, "Shuffle Along"
opened in a local theater.
The streets of San Juan Hill
were filled with music.
The sounds of singers
piano players, and big bands
drifted from home radios
and blended with sidewalk gospel music.
Monk began playing the piano
without formal training.
Later he took lessons and studied music theory
at the Juilliard School of Music.
But his real teachers
were the master Jazzmen of his time..
Fats Waller
Art Tatum
and Duke Ellington.
At 17, he toured the United States
with a gospel group.
Monk returned to New York
and became the house piano player
at Minton's Playhouse
the scene of a revolution in music.
There, with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
Monk joined the revolution.
It was called "Bebop".
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Bebop got a lot of attention
but Monk's unique contribution
was largely unrecognized.
He was known by very few.
One who knew was the great saxophonist
Coleman Hawkins.
In 1944, Hawkins hired him
and Monk made his first record.
By that time Monk had already
composed many of his major works.
He wrote many more
and the language of Jazz was changed forever.
[instrumental music]
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[new instrumental track]
[Charlie Rouse] 'Bebop.. That's a strange word sometimes, too.'
'He was a musician.'
When the music changed, they just called it Bebop.
But, uh, Thelonious was like a founder.
He was the f..
Like, he laid down the foundation.
He was the piano player.
A lot of his compositions is classics now.
[piano music]
[music continues]
[Harry Colomby narrating] He saw himself as modern.
He liked to use the word "modern".
A modern Jazz player.
Blacks who were listening to that music
saw an expression of independence
and pride and strength.
Thelonious Monk just represented that.
The earliest example of the black revolution..
...of a black, uh, uprising, in a sense
was in music, was in the Bebop period
where the musicians weren't obviously
trying to please an audience
but they were playing their music their way.
It was a real independent expression.
[instrumental music]
Here's what I gathered..
That his music at the time was unorthodox.
It wasn't popular. Uh..
His records really weren't selling.
He was more an underground figure.
He was also a man
about whom stories about unreliability were circulating.
[instrumental music]
Live television is the scariest medium of all
because it's millions of people.
If you're going to act silly or be late
it's going to be a glaring omission.
I just remember being very, very nervous.
He sat down and he played
and I was aware of a real professional.
There he is. What's there to be nervous about?
He's there.
[music continues]
I remember, though, on the way back
he was a little pissed off at Count Basie.
He said Count Basie kept looking at him.
...looking at him while he was playing.
He was at the piano.
And that somehow bothered him.
He said, "The next time he plays somewhere
I'm gonna look at him."
To be employed in New York
you needed a Police Card or Cabaret Card.
If I wanted to be a musician
I'd have to go to the police
put my fingerprints down, and get my card.
That card would be in my possession
until I committed a crime.
Then that card would be removed.
He had lost his.
His friend Bud Powell was leaving town
and asked him to drive with him to the airport.
They made a stop
and Bud Powell got out, got back in with some drugs.
The cops saw whatever they had
flying out the window.
Who threw it out? Thelonious Monk.
So he was arrested and convicted
and got, I think, 90 days.
He said he never used. He was not guilty at that time.
The police then.. in the fifties, maybe earlier..
their favorite targets seemed to be Jazz musicians.
There were some cities that were outright unfriendly
and I think that bothered him.
He'd rather stay in New York.
During that period
in the process of getting his card.
I found this little bar on 3rd avenue
called "The Five Spot".
[instrumental music]
And he was going to appear there five, six months..
As long as crowds were coming in
and-and we did that.
[instrumental music]
The response was staggering.
The pressure's been building all these years.
Suddenly you take it off
and all that stuff comes out.
That's what you felt. That's how he played.
He was just great.
[music continues]
Whoever came loved what they heard.
I felt Thelonious was vindicated
because all this time
he had been an artist that had never had his due
in terms of recognition
and here was a beginning of that changing.
There were phone calls for engagements, of course.
We were now lucky enough to say
we don't go out of town right now
while before this engagement
we would have considered anything.
I do that on the street if I can.
Somebody else do that
they put him in a strait jacket.
I say, "Oh, that Thelonious Monk, he's crazy."
[applause]
Thank you.
The applause comes anyway.
Hello, guys.
How you doing today?
Hey, I was in this studio once before.
That was a good year.
[Teo Macero] 'Hey!'
How we doing? How you feel, man?
Hey, man. What's cookin'?
What's that? You got a new hat?
Uh...oh, yeah,
this was given to me in Poland.
- Poland? - Yeah.
Hey, Larry.
Is Charlie Rouse here? Everybody's here?
Where's Big Ben?
That's what I want to know.
You guys came on time.
Hell, everybody's here.. Only half an hour late.
[Rouse] 'Baby! Hold it like it's a Christmas present.'
[laughing]
Hey, Charles.
Hello, T. How you doing?
Doing great.
Teo!
Hey.
Play that again, Teo.
Teo!
Yeah, man.
We're always supposed to be on time.
I made a bet.
Man, let me see the glasses.
Oh, you're jivin' me.
Oh, man.
[Rouse] I like that. I like it.
[Teo] 'The glasses!'
Where can I get another pair like that?
'I want to get a pair.'
Now I can see.
Have you got anything in them?
I tell you...that's funny.
You mean it's invisible?
I got invisible glasses on. That's right.
Just little sketches, right?
'Yeah. I write down four bars or something.'
You know, you get four bars done
you can play later on.
You know, I haven't seen you for a month.
Since-since the vanguard.
Yeah. That's right.
So the time flies.
I'm getting older.
You're getting younger.
It's good of you to say that.
I'm hearing now.
Heard you before you said it.
Let's see something..
Let's see some free form things today.
Free form, huh?
What, you mean, uh, like, uh..
...Dixieland?
[Teo] 'No, no, no, no.'
'Let it wail in different keys.'
I want it easy as possible so people can dig it and then..
...and still be good.
My songs are like that..
It's easy..you know.
The melody and the time, it's alright.
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[Teo] 'Monk?'
'Let's-let's really do one. We're all set.'
Huh?
'Let's do one.'
We were running it over.
Why you stopping us for?
Shit.
Not necessary to start over.
Now, where was we at, huh?
Where was we at
before we were so rudely interrupted?
Trying out that bass solo.
One or two, however you feel.
[Charlie Rouse narrating] We'd start out and we'd do a take.
Usually, we'd take the first take.
Sometimes the second, but never the third.
He'd say once you play it the first time
that's the way the feeling is.
After that, you start going downhill.
So, uh, it's more like a challenge when you do that.
You know that, uh..
...you got to play it correctly the first or second take
or that's it. He would take it anyhow.
If you mess up, well, that's it.
You know, that's your problem.
You have to hear that all the rest of your life.
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[Teo] 'Stand by, please.'
You get all that down?
You play all that?
Huh?
I'd like to hear how that sounds.
'We're still fooling with the sound in here.'
Let's make one, then we'll play it back.
Why does nobody want to do what I ask them to do?
I asked to play the song first before that other jive.
'Keep rehearsing. We'll tape some.'
I wanted to see how it sounds.
You rehearse every time you play on your instrument.
You should know that.. A saxophone player.
I don't think he taped that one.
He said he was going to.
'I said we were gonna make one.'
'You said you wanted to rehearse.'
I didn't say anything.
I didn't say shit. I didn't say nothing.
Well, can we hear what that sounds like?
'We didn't record it.'
[Teo] 'Stand by, please.'
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[Columby narrating] Somebody named Barry Farrell
exacted a promise from the Time people
to do a cover on Thelonious Monk.
When I first heard I didn't believe it.
The first-first meeting, uh, with Barry
was in the evening, and, uh, I forgot the month.
But we were there. It was the first meeting.
"Hello. I'm Barry. I'm doing the cover."
"I'm Thelonious Monk. Ok, I'm your cover subject."
And on the way down, I noticed the beginning
of a period of..of..of strange behavior.
The timing was just.. You know
a couple times a year that would occur.
And I noticed that and I was terrified.
If that was spotted in the room
that cover would be blown.
So I went up with him.
It was just Thelonious Monk, Barry Farrell, and myself
in this dark Radio City office.
Barry said, "Hello. Listen to this record
"with Bill Evans playing 'Round Midnight.
What do you think?"
I was watching Thelonious Monk's behavior
progressively..you know, getting progressively..
uh, it wasn't obvious yet.
It was, to me, obvious it was going to get bad.
I didn't know how long it would take.
I was just so paranoid about someone spotting something.
I remember he got up, looked out the window,
and he stared a little bit, but apparently it wasn't spotted.
By the time he got downstairs with me
he was, uh, very withdrawn.
He was already off somewhere.
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
Things that people would do to him
he would just internalize them
and they would manifest themselves
in tremendous fits of depression and euphoria..
A very schizophrenic type thing.
And when this would happen
on certain occasions, yeah, we had to hospitalize him.
He would generally, uh..
...close up.. introvert.
And then...he would get excited.
And he may, you know, like I say, pace for four days
something like that.
Then eventually he would get exhausted.
So it was, you know, uh..
It's hard to say how it moved.
It was very complex.
He was a very complex individual.
Ready to go.
Go.
♪ Don't you know that it's getting closer ♪
Ain't it?
I got something I want to tell you.
I guess they started somewhere in the mid-fifties
but, um, they didn't..
I'm not sure the first time
Thelonious spent any time in the hospital for them.
I don't think that happened.
I don't recall that happening until the sixties
till the, uh, mid to late sixties.
Uh, but my mom told me that she saw the signs of it
much, much earlier.
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
Most people run from it. That was the one thing
Nellie wouldn't allow us to do that.
My tendency was to run from it.
I didn't know what was going on.
It's a startling thing
when you look your father in the eye
and you know he doesn't exactly know who you are
and you tend to not want to face that at all.
You want to act like this is not happening.
But my mother clearly let me know
that it was our responsibility
to look out for him the way he did for us
every minute he was able to.
[Columby narrating] She was trusting.
She was a terrific friend.
A friend. Total trust and dependence.
She was operated on at that time and was in the hospital
and he was very, very tense..
...really very tense and unsettled.
But he was working on that tune at that time.
[piano music]
[music continues]
I don't know..
...if he would have made the strides he made musically
had there not been a Nellie for him
to cover the other bases
and-and have it all wrapped n love at the very same time.
[Thelonious Jr. narrating] She actually understood before anyone else around him..
...back when they were teenagers..
She understood what it would take to allow this to grow.
[Rouse narrating] Nellie was like his right hand, you know.
She would tell him what to..
You know, you should wear this today, or whatever.
And she looks.. looking after him, whatever
You know, food and everything.
Yeah, they were very, very close together.
I think he wouldn't..
He'd be lost without her out on the road.
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[Bob Jones narrating] We had sold a tour based on an octet.
The complication with the octet
was that Monk had the music.
And before we could figure out what to do musically
we had to get a hold of this.
Monk never gave it to us
until we got on the plane.
I remember going up to first class..
Nellie and Thelonious were there..
and I said, "I need the music.
"The guys have to see what's going on.
Don't worry. You'll get it back."
We brought it back, and it was distributed
to the musicians in the back
so all five of us copied the music all the way to London.
We were going to arrive in London
and play the same evening.
It had to be nerve-racking to him how this would happen.
Given his Druthers
this man would have stayed in New York, period.
That would be the end of it.
[instrumental music]
Hold it.
[whistling]
[applause]
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[Columby narrating] He must have thought that it got off on the wrong foot
and it was never going to get back.
I know he was nervous
about the number of people we had.
He must have thought there weren't enough horns.
Unless somebody really worked on the charts
they wouldn't sound right.
[Ray] 'How's this start? Does the band start?'
- Uh... band starts. - 'The band goes.'
What do you play, Ben, four bars, eight bars?
Does Ben play..
I play an introduction
then I let him play an introduction
and then Rouse will play it with us together..
About two times, you know, a chorus
then the band comes in.
Yeah.
Ready?
Hmm.
[laughing]
[piano music]
[instrumental music]
Tenor saxophone.
[saxophone playing]
Alto solo.
Say, Ray?
Hey, you follow.. You follow Rouse.
[Ray] You want me to follow Rouse?
[Thelonious] 'Yeah, that's right.'
It's tough.. It's exactly what you said.
There's horns missing.
- That's the first half. - Half, not the time.
The second half..
Uh-huh.
How we going to do it three times?
Same way. Go up the second time.
There'll be six times.
Six times?
It's going to be lower..
Oh.
Medium, and then high.
The whole 16 bars every time!
Right, instead of eight bars.
Ah so!
I dig. I see what he's doing.
Slowly, slowly but surely.
[piano music]
Any preference for solo order?
The way we did it alright?
Charles first?
Uh, yeah, he plays it first.
We'll figure out how who's going, okay?
When you see a nice place to go in
you pick your spot to blow.
Pick it.
[saxophone music]
[music continues]
[applause]
[piano music]
[music continues]
[applause]
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[applause]
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[applause]
Johnny Griffin.
[Columby narrating] I remember the audience went crazy.
They were just.. they were stunned,
and he was literally stunned himself
by the audience reaction to this
and suddenly discovered
"Well, yeah. I mean, it's all working.
It's not going to be the disaster."
[applause]
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
We would like to have your signature
if you would. We all, uh..
If you please can do it.
Oh, Thelonious Monk.
I thank you very, very much.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
[Bob Jones narrating] When they went on the first world tour
they went from Geneva to Australia.
And in Australia, customs found
all these empty coke bottles in their bags.
Empty coke bottles..
And overweight, they paid overweight.
The people were furious.
"Why do you have these empty coke bottles?"
Nellie said, "We're taking them back."
How are you?
- Is Gracie with you? - Huh?
No? Gracie with you?
Nellie?
Oh, yeah. She's over there.
Oh, yes.
You never stay home alone, huh?
No.
You like to travel with Mr. Monk here, huh?
Yes.
- Yes? - Oh, yes.
You know me.
I know you, yes.
And I know him.
Thelonious!
Thelonious Monk.
[piano music]
[music continues]
[applause]
Where you buy those?
- 'What's that?' - Those crazy pants.
Copenhagen. Danish ones.
Tell my mama Denmark.
[Griffin] 'Sassy. Sassy.'
Some bad motherfuckers.
'Yeah, that's right.'
'Go.'
We better get out of here.
We finished the whole thing.
The trip is over.
Thought he was going to ride us all the way..
...we're straight ahead, right?
Have you got chicken livers and rice?
Chicken?
Chicken livers.
Chicken liver.
I don't think we have it, sir.
Just a second, please.
Chicken salad we have here, sir.
You like chicken salad or chicken..chicken?
'Or chicken salad?'
How about just liver?
- 'Liver. Yeah.' - And what goes with it?
- 'Veal liver.' - Uh-huh.
[male waiter] 'Veal liver with potatoes..'
'French fried potatoes or mashed potatoes.'
- 'Mashed potatoes.' - 'Mashed potatoes, yeah.'
He's coming in with your food.
Here you are, sir.
Alright. You're going to get up though, aren't you?
Where's the ice? You didn't bring no ice.
[applause]
[piano music]
[music continues]
What is more important in your work
playing the piano or composing?
I do both.
Beide sind gleich wichtig..
componieren und klavierspielen.
Mr. Monk, you always wear different hats and caps
in your concerts.
Do they have an influence in your music?
No.
That's a good question.
Maybe they do. I don't know.
Do you think the piano has enough keys..88?
Do you want more or less?
Uh, I mean, it's hard work to play those 88.
I was in the room, Nellie was in the room.. Backstage.
A reporter came in
and asked him what kind of music he liked.
And Thelonious, "I like all kinds of music."
Perfectly legitimate answer.
Then the reporter said, "Do you like country music?"
Thelonious didn't answer him.
Then the reporter said,
"Uh, well, do you like country music?"
Thelonious looked at me and said
"I think the fellow's hard of hearing."
[pipe-organ music]
Uh-1, uh-2..
[playing"I Mean You"]
[music continues]
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
[applause]
[music continues]
Solid.
[applause]
What's up? Hey, man.
Get away from him. I'm taking his picture.
How you been, man?
Well, I dig it.
How you doing? You look great.
How you doing?
Great, man.
Yeah, but towards the end of the month
I'll be busy, you know.
I'll be going everywhere
but I don't know what I'll do here.
[cheering]
- How are you feeling? - Alright.
Good.
You're looking your best tonight.
Oh, this is an old suit
and, well, it's an old suit here.
Still looks pretty good.
I don't wear none of my new shit.
I can tell it's brand-new.
[Nica] 'Hey, I got a present for you.'
Million dollars?
- No. - Oh.
Not quite. Here. Here.
It's a.. It's a marker, you know.
Is this to sign autographs?
[Nica] 'No. It's a..'
I don't never carry no pen..
'A marker for your autographing.'
I don't like to carry a pen on me.
'You will. That's the point.'
That's why I haven't gotten a pen.
Saves energy.
[Nica] 'This time you can have a pen you do like.'
'I'll grab some paper for you.'
Is that jive, or it's real?
What is this, silver?
'It's silver, but try the marker.'
It's like a magic marker.
Well, that's not much for paper.
'Ha ha ha ha!'
'You see?'
Shut my mouth wide open.
'There's a proper piece of paper.'
Proper piece of paper.
So I'll do it etiquettely.
'Can you read that?'
A beautiful message.
Somebody can decipher that for you
and tell you what it means.
You know, it will upset you.
That's right. You'll flip.
I mean, flip for real.
You know, over.
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
Isn't that right?
The royal family came to..
came to your..your, uh, grandfather
and said, uh, all that begging.
And you laid all that bread on him
so he could beat Napoleon.
Ain't that a bitch?
[Nica] 'And threw in the Suez canal.'
That changed.. that changed the world.
[Rouse] 'Ain't nobody's fault around here.'
[Nica] 'That was in Europe.'
This is the United States. I'll tell people who you are.
She's a billionaire.
You know, the Rothschild.
[Columby narrating] She told me that she wanted to meet him in the worst way.
I know that she needed him a lot.
She told me that..
She said that she would feel a source of strength.
She had an interesting background.
A woman of.. What was it..
With the free French army
and flew Lancaster bombers during the war
was in De Gaulle's resistance. Kind of a rebel.
But Nellie never saw in that relationship a threat.
Sometimes Nellie may have felt relieved
she came around when Thelonious was a little difficult.
She was splitting duties.
They didn't plan that. It just turned into that.
You see the tongue?
I think he had a problem.
Thelonious, that's your land
as you put it, very jauntily, I thought.
[Nica narrating] I didn't meet Thelonious until 1954.
Flew to Paris
and got there just in time
for his first overseas concert.
And I went backstage afterwards
and Mary Lou Williams introduced me to him.
That's how I met him.
But we hung out and had a ball.
He was there about a week.
Then I came back to New York
a couple of months later.
I was then living in the Stanhope
and all musicians used to come up there.
But after a bird died there, they threw me out.
Did you do the matinee?
On Sunday?
- No? - Mm-mmm.
No. Too much.
Then I went to the Bolivar.
And that's when I got my piano.
Thelonious and I got it together.
That's where he wrote brilliant corners
and "Bolivar Balues Are", I believe.
At night we'd go out 'round the clubs
then all musicians would come back with us to the Bolivar
and we'd have these fantastic jam sessions
until 8:00 or 9:00 the next morning.
So, of course, eventually that caused trouble
and I was thrown out of there.
Then we decided I'd get a house of my own.
And I got this house..
...which was known at first by Thelonious as "Catville".
[Monk narrating] Hi, everybody.
I'm very glad to be here today.
And I would like to play
a little tune I composed not so long ago
entitled "Pannonica".
It was named after this beautiful lady here.
I think her father gave her that name..
...uh, after a butterfly that he tried to catch.
I don't think he caught the butterfly.
But anyway, here's the number I composed
named after her. "Pannonica".
Merci beaucoup, ladies and gentlemen.
[Nica narrating] Thank you, Thelonious Monk.
What are the chords?
[playing notes]
'D flat?'
Uh, yeah. D flat. Mm-hmm.
- G? - D. D flat.
That means my E flat.
E flat what? D flat what?
Uh, D flat 7.
D flat 7.
Uh-huh.
Then I'm thinking about right here.
'G minor 7 to D flat.'
Yeah.
'G minor 7.'
'G minor 7. A minor 7.'
'To what? To D flat.'
That's two beats apiece.
Yeah.
And then the next bar is..
The next half of the bar is G flat 7.
- 'Huh?' - D flat 7?
- 'G flat.' - 'G flat.'
G flat.
This'll be "Boo Boo's Birthday", take three.
[piano music]
What you want me to hit? I just wrote..
You want me to hit the top note?
What you want me to hit here?
You want me to hit, uh, uh, uh, C?
Or are my notes contrary?
What you want, the top notes?
Hit any of them. Any notes you want.
Any notes I want to?
You know, any note that's here.
You can hit any one of them.
I can hit..
I can hit D and C then, huh?
I hit the top note.
When I was.. Yeah, I hit this note, C.
But here it's two notes.
It's either a C sharp or a C natural.
Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Either one of those?
Yeah. Uh-huh.
[humming]
F sharp 7, B-7, B flat.
♪ De dum de-duh de-duh ♪
A flat, A flat, G.
Now hold on scale there.
A hold on scale there?
Then an A flat 7.
Oh? Okay.
A flat 7. Then he ends it in D flat.
♪ De dum de dum ♪
That's it. He does something like that.
[humming]
[piano music]
[music continues]
Gee, that's very hard to say about..
Because he was.. The time I was with him
just before.. prior to leaving..
he was right into it.
I never thought that he would stop suddenly and don't play.
But something happened.
Something really clicked in him
and he didn't want to play anymore.
I've asked him several times
and he never gave any reason.
He said, "I just don't feel like playing no more."
Whatever ailed him just overwhelmed him
and he just withdrew. I don't think it was an anger
or a...about music.
It had nothing to do with music.
It was him and his energy and his outlook and his life.
Nothing to do with music like "I haven't got it anymore."
I know it wasn't that. I'm not in his brain
but that could never have been what it was.
[instrumental music]
[Nica narrating] We were driving home from New York.
This was the first year he lived here. 1972.
He suddenly turned to me and said
"I am very seriously ill."
This is the only thing
Thelonious was ever heard to say about being ill.
He never said it again.
[mellow music]
[music continues]
[Columby narrating] Thelonious died on February 17, 1982.
He had a cerebral hemorrhage
and he was in a coma for 12 days.
And he passed away very quietly in his sleep.
And the last person with him was Nellie.
[saxophone music]
[music continues]
[playing "Sweetheart Of All My Dreams"]
[music continues]
[applause]
[instrumental music]
[music continues]