Larry Vuckovich Trio Plays Thelonious Monk

As the only protégé of North Beach piano legend Vince Guaraldi, the Yugoslav-born Vuckovich has cultivated an encompassing and supremely cosmopolitan sensibility. He’s a scintillating stylist who is fluent in a multitude of modern jazz dialects. Beginning with his seminal 1980 release Blue Balkan (featuring the late vibraphone legend Bobby Hutcherson), he became known as a pioneer of Balkan jazz who paved the way for the contemporary scene’s fascination with the intricate meters and raucous energy of Eastern European folk forms.

This night promises a night of inspired re-interpretations by a modern master who encountered Monk’s music at performances by the iconoclastic keyboard genius at San Francisco clubs The Jazz Workshop and the Both/And in the 1960s.

Vuckovich’s connection to Monk was cemented through years of work with Poet Laureate of Jazz Jon Hendricks, who was the only lyricist to work with the jazz legend, writing lyrics and performing “In Walked Bud” on Monk's 1968 Columbia classic Underground.