CiTR

This wonderful recording that seems to be overlooked was Monk's penultimate recording for Columbia Records and the final official documentation of his Quartet with the great tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse. They do three new Monk compositions on this disc. The rest were performed at a later date with Rouse absent due to a death in his family so it is Monk with his regular accompanists, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums. The bonus is a tune (a Monk classic: "In Walked Bud")with a vocal by Jon Hendricks, who was visiting the session. This was only the third time Monk had ever recorded with a vocalist. This album won a Grammy for it's unique cover but although it's near the end of Monk's career the music is superb. The title "Underground" refers more to the album's cover rather than to Monk himself who by this time was recognized as one of the most important figures in Jazz music both as a composer and pianist. Check Monk out always!