Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser (1988)

super with great memories

the dvd gives us a magnificient view on the life and the music of one of the greatest jazz composers and musicians November 9, 2008

Monk

Done with class, Clint has done it again. It even has spot shot of Rasham Rollin Kirk. Nice Documentary September 15, 2008

Portrait of an Artist

I don't think the filmmakers who shot this footage set out to make this film. I think they set out to make another film, but they made this one for better or worse. Thelonious Monk's "eccentricities" were well known to his fans, but this film shows more than just eccentric behavior.

In the vein of eccentric behavior, a friend of mine told me about seeing Thelonious Monk live at Shelly's Manne Hole in Hollywood back in the late 1960's. It was a rare appearance for Monk in L.A. and it was not long afterward that the Manne Hole closed, as I recall. He said that Thelonious stopped playing in the middle of the set and got up from the piano and began to spin around in a slow circles like a dervish. My friend showed me how Monk did it.

My friend said he was disappointed. He didn't pay to see Monk dance; he wanted to hear him play piano. But I didn't give it too much thought at the time. It seemed harmless, eccentric.

About fifteen years ago, I first saw "Straight, No Chaser." It was a shock to see Monk doing what my friend described so long before. It looked much more ominous than his description. There was one shot of him where he was spinning around and his eyes momentarily went dull for half a second as if he had a mild stroke or seizure. Even more shocking was how poorly Monk was functioning at times as he appeared in this movie. Although I'm not a physician, the word "brain tumor" just leapt into my mind. That he died of a cerebral hemorrhage confirms my guess. It was so shocking that I think I missed most of the film

I recently saw this film again. The commentary by Monk's son was most poignant in describing his own childhood, coping with Monk's strange behavior and hospitalizations. It didn't sound to me as if anyone really understood what was wrong with Monk at the time.

Rethinking this film's significance: what Monk accomplished --- impressive as it was --- is even more impressive when you think that while he was writing and performing, in the background, was this thing destroying him inside his own head. He was struggling and straining to keep going against odds that were gradually slipping away from him. Every day, life got just a little harder for him. The effort eventually overcame him. No wonder he stopped playing.

Monk was lucky in leaving his unique music as his legacy under these circumstances. He was also lucky in having married Nellie. She was a great woman who clearly kept him going and loved him and took care of him. We were lucky that he married Nellie as well for those same reasons.

The music choices were well placed and add to the bittersweet quality of this video portrait. There was always the playful quality of Monk's music, in a way reminiscent of Erik Satie, but deeply rooted in the blues.

The film does have a few comic moments. The business where they had shipped a trunk full of empty Coke bottles halfway around the world in order to return them for deposit, struck me as hilarious. I guess you had to grow up in an earlier era for that one. Also, the "Copenhagen pants" and the "chicken livers" scenes were pretty funny.

The exact medical facts will probably never be known. But this is a story of a great artist---and may I add, a good man---who suffered a terrible and tragic fate.




July 22, 2008

A Decent Documentary About Monk

"Straight, No Chaser" is a decent documentary, but what it fails to do is talk about the music and even less about the history of Monk. Yeah, it has rare performances never before seen, but this doesn't constitute a good film. It's only icing for the cake, but there's not a cake here. I felt it was a rather empty look into his history. I mean everybody who listens and are fans of Monk know where he was born at and how he started playing at a place called Minton's where he met and played with Dizzy and Parker. I would have liked to hear more about his own compositions and how they changed the history of jazz. Interviews with people like Johnny Griffin, Sonny Rollins, Ben Riley, Art Blakey, and other musicians who were more involved with the music making process would have been much more informative than simply interviewing family members and road managers. This may be okay for some people, but it didn't really sit well with me. I actually found these interviews really boring and lacking any kind of character.

I will also say the documentary wasn't really well thought out. It seemed really scatter brained for lack of a better term. At one point, Monk is laying in bed asking for chicken livers, then the next he's playing out live. It's just really a mess of a documentary that really makes no sense. The historical value of the whole thing is incomplete. There is also no focus on his music of the 50s. It seems that his 60s quartet is getting all the press and unfortunately this is what makes this so frustrating, because Monk has made alot of music before he met Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales, and Ben Riley. As great as those musicians are, Monk was blazing trails way before he met those guys.

There are some parts of this film that are priceless like the scenes where he is in the studio recording "Ugly Beauty" for his album "Underground." That to me is something that was unique and different to see, but for me there wasn't enough of this kind of footage to make it worthwhile.

I will only recommend this documentary to hardcore fans of Monk, but if you're new to his music and want to hear more about his music or see him pick up the DVDs "Thelonious Monk: American Composer" or "Jazz Icons: Live in '66." April 12, 2008

Thelonious Monk - Straight no Chaser

For all Jazz aficionado this should be part of their library. To understand one of the most complex minds from Jazz Music. January 23, 2008

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