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"Monk & Mary Lou"
Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Band;
Geri Allen Trio performing "Zodiac Suite"
Friday, April 6 • 8pm
$56
$36
$30
$25
“Mr. Riley's light, elegant drumming…shine(s) through.” - The New York Times
Program Notes
Thelonious Monk's compositions have not only endured the test of time; they have also provided successive generations with a framework for myriad interpretations. A quick search reveals that “'Round Midnight,” a classic in the Monk canon, has been recorded over 1000 times. Whether shaken up with Latin rhythms (Jerry Gonzalez & the Fort Apache Band's Rumba para Monk; pianist Danilo Perez's Panamonk) or stripped down to bare essentials (Steve Lacy & Mal Waldron's duets or Fred Hersch's patient solo interpretations) Monk's oeuvre is standard fare for jazz musicians.
Now Ben Riley, a drummer in Monk's quartet in the ’60s, has teamed up with trumpeter and arranger Don Sickler to create the piano-less Monk Legacy Septet. Taking their cue from Monk's distinctive left hand accompaniment—a harmonic treasure chest of half-formed chords, forward-leaning dissonances, and stately resolutions—the band has conjured a highly original take on Monk's music. As The New York Times noted, "The arrangements deal up front with a unifying characteristic of Monk's Music: the sudden silences, and the way they work as rhythm."
Holding down that rhythm, Riley is, as ever, a paragon of economy and taste. Steeped in jazz from an early age in his childhood home of Harlem (his neighbors included Sonny Rollins and Roy Haynes), Riley has accompanied a diverse list of jazz titans: Alice Coltrane, Kenny Barron (with whom he formed the jazz super-group Sphere), Earl "Father" Hines, and Mary Lou Williams.
Geri Allen opens the evening with a tribute to Williams, another trailblazing pianist and composer, and one of Allen’s musical idols. Tonight she reprises her 2005 recording Zodiac Suite: Revisited, 12 pieces Williams wrote in 1944-45, one for each sign of the zodiac, in honor of notable personalities born under each one (including the famous Aquarian F.D.R., and a pair of Aries: Billie Holliday and Ben Webster). When she's not touring with Charles Lloyd, or leading her own bands, Allen works as an Associate Professor of Jazz Piano & Improvisation Studies at University of Michigan. She accompanied San Francisco vocalist Mary Stallings at the 2006 Beacon Award concert last fall, and also last year released Timeless Portraits and Dreams.
Personnel:
Ben Riley’s Monk Legacy Band
- Ben Riley, drums
- Don Sickler, trumpet/arranger
- Bruce Williams, alto & soprano saxophones
- Wayne Escoffery, tenor & soprano saxophones
- Jay Brandford, baritone saxophone
- Freddie Bryant, guitar
- Essiet Okon Essiet, bass
Geri Allen Trio
- Geri Allen, piano
- Kenny Davis, bass
- Andrew Cyrille, drums
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