On the Record: Danilo Pérez's "Panamonk"

For Panama-born pianist and composer Danilo Pérez, life as a musician was preordained. The son of a popular vocalist who taught his son reading, math, and other core subjects through music, Pérez began his piano explorations at age three, was a student of classical piano at the National Conservatory by 10, and was a working professional at 12.

By the mid-1990s, Pérez was already one of jazz’s most widely acclaimed young pianists via his work with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra and his first two recordings for Novus — his self-titled 1993 debut and his critically acclaimed follow-up The Journey, a project tracing the paths of enslaved Africans across oceans at the height of the slave trade that made Top 10 year-end lists by The New York Times, The Village Voice, Billboard, and other notable publications.

1996 was monumental for the then-29-year-old — a year that saw him performing at the Inaugural Ball for President Bill Clinton and at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta with Wynton Marsalis. Recorded in January of that year, Panamonk marked one of Impulse! Records first new recordings in almost two decades and stands as a pivotal statement that redefined how modern jazz could approach Thelonious Monk’s formidable and instantly identifiable songbook.

Bookended by short solo readings of “Monk’s Mood,” a composition immortalized on Monk’s 1957 solo Riverside release Thelonious Himself, Panamonk comprises trio takes on seminal Monk compositions and new music by Pérez featuring bassist Avishai Cohen, with drum duties split between Jeff “Tain” Watts and Terri Lyne Carrington.

Over the course of a dozen tracks, Pérez demonstrates a remarkable level of instrumental mastery with an ingenious knack for blending Monk’s timeless music with his own influences.

For example, he transforms the 1961 “Sweet Georgia Brown” contrafact “Bright Mississippi” into a stunning danzón, interpolating the classic Ernesto Lecuona danza “Y La Negra Bailaba” at the top before sliding seamlessly into Monk’s melody, with Carrington’s baqueteo rhythm propelling the tune in lockstep with Cohen’s tumbao.

Later, Pérez applies a decidedly Monk-like spikiness to his own New Orleans-flavored funk “Hot Bean Strut,” featuring Watts’ bone-deep Second Line groove front and center, until a transformative montuno at the coda pushes the trio firmly back into Caribbean territory.

After an emotive solo take on the evergreen “‘Round Midnight,” Pérez steers the trio into a straight-ahead direction on his mashup of the Monk standards “Evidence” and “Four in One” — a fiery post-bop workout that showcases Cohen’s melodic acuity and deft polyrhythms from Carrington.

For this night, Pérez performs with a similarly virtuosic trio that reunites him with his former Wayne Shorter quartet bandmate John Patitucci on bass and two-decade collaborator Adam Cruz on drums, bringing Monk’s endlessly rewarding trove of compositions back into focus.

Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, and Adam Cruz perform the work of Thelonious Monk on 10/10, Monk's birthday. Tickets and more information are available here.