Stereophile Records to Die For blurb:
Thelonious Monk: Live at the It Club: Complete
Thelonious Monk, piano; Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophone; Larry Gales, bass; Ben Riley, drums
Columbia/Legacy C2K 65288 (2 CDs). 1964/1998. Teo Macero, prod.; Orrin Keepnews, reissue prod.; Mark Wilder, remix, remastering. AAD. TT: 2:33:36
If you love Monk, you enjoy him on his bad nights. On his great nights, he is continuous jolts of adrenalin. On October 31 and November 1, 1964, in a long-forgotten club in Los Angeles, Monk is beside himself. His wild, clanging solo in "Misterioso" comes out of some previously unvisited cranny of his unique psyche. In "Rhythm-a-ning," he adds a little explosion of notes to the first phrase of the melody. Charlie Rouse instantly picks up this unprecedented embellishment and solos on it. Some heroic, anonymous engineer gets it all: the quartet, the crowd, the electric night air.