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Chapter 43: Monk's Dream

Adventurous jazz (and a spoken word interlude)

Jazz captivates because of the tension between composition and improvisation; it's all about freedom within structure. Free jazz players will eventually try to break the tension completely by removing all structure - but even before free jazz was developed, guys like Cecil Taylor and Thelonious Monk were pushing that tension to the limits with bizarre clanging chords and complex arrangements that somehow cohere. In the eye of this storm, an elegy from Allen Ginsburg.
1. John Coltrane Quartet

Tunji

2. Toshiko Akiyoshi

Softly As In a Morning Sunrise*

3. Thelonious Monk

Monk's Dream (Take 8)

4. Eric Dolphy

Bee Vamp

5. Allen Ginsberg

A Supermarket In California

6. Ornette Coleman

Lonely Woman

7. Cecil Taylor

Bemsha Swing

8. James "Blood" Ulmer

Swing & Things

9. Keith Jarrett

Great Bird

10. Joe Pass

Night And Day

*Not on Spotify