Baddest Monk, The

Reed, Eric
Savant Records
Jazz | Aug 2012

Reviews

Fo
Reviewed 2012-08-11
ERIC REED: The Baddest Monk
Savant, 2012

MAINSTREAM JAZZ – Friendly, appealing covers of Thelonious Monk tunes from the ever-tasteful Reed, leading a really sharp quintet. It’s always tricky handling Monk’s work without either doing a lame imitation or making the music sound forced, but Reed does a good job of focusing on the rhythmic essence and thus retains his own high-class sound while staying true to the earthy, oddball material. It’s a winner!

All good! Fo’s Picks: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9

1. 5:08 – slick, funky snap: piano solo really gets into the groove
2. 7:13 – midtempo glide: intro is quite Monkish; very slippery round of solos
3. 6:19 – hot drive: simple, snappy tune built on sneaky pitter-patter rhythm
4. 4:07 – midtempo, somewhat breezy ballad: very elegant piano, nice drums
5. 8:22 – nice! deliciously soulful Jose James vocal, just him & Reed’s piano
6. 9:12 – solid walking rhythm, playful piano goes all over the place
7. 5:59 – bluesy original tune drops in familiar Monkisms, bass & sax solo
8. 3:29 – uptempo, perky strut: odd meter gives it sort of a second-line feel
9. 3:46 – solo piano: a nice original after-hours blues, oh yeah.

[ Fo ] - 11 August 2012

Recent airplay

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Charting

2012-08-12 — 2012-10-14 Jazz
Week EndingAirplays
Oct 14 3
Oct 7 2
Sep 30 1
Sep 23 1
Sep 2 2
Aug 26 2
Aug 19 1

Track listing

1. Rhythm-A-Ning
2. Epistrophy
3. Green Chimneys
4. Monk's Mood
5. 'round Midnight
6. Evidence
7. Monk Beurre Rouge
8. Bright Mississippi
9. The Baddest Monk