The following is the discography of American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk (1917–1982).
Discography
Blue Note Records (1947–1952)
Singles
Singles released from the Blue Note sessions include the following:[1]
Blue Note 500 series (10 inch 78 rpm)
- BN 542 "Thelonious" (BN311-0) / "Suburban Eyes" (BN310-1)
 - BN 543 "'Round About Midnight" (BN321-1) / "Well, You Needn't" (BN314-0)
 - BN 547 "Evonce" (BN309-4) / "Off Minor" (BN317-1)
 - BN 548 "In Walked Bud" (BN318-3) / "Epistrophy" (BN330-0)
 - BN 549 "Ruby, My Dear" (BN313-1) / "Evidence" (BN328-0)
 - BN 560 "Humph" (BN308-2) / "Misterioso" (BN329-0)
 
Blue Note 1200 series (10 inch 78 rpm)
- BN 1201 "I Should Care" (BN327-2) / "All the Things You Are" (BN326-3)
 
Blue Note 1500 series (10 inch 78 rpm)
- BN 1564 "I Mean You" (BN331-1) / "Symphonette" (BN334-1) ["Symphonette" not recorded by Monk; Tadd Dameron performance]
 - BN 1565 "Who Knows" (BN320-0) / "Monk's Mood" (BN319-0)
 - BN 1575 "April in Paris" (BN315-1) / "Nice Work If You Can Get It" (BN312-1)
 - BN 1589 "Four in One" (BN392-1) / "Straight, No Chaser" (BN395-1)
 - BN 1590 "Criss Cross" (BN393-0) / "Eronel" (BN394-0)
 - BN 1591 "Ask Me Now" (BN396-1) / "Willow Weep for Me" (BN397-0)
 - BN 1602 "Skippy" (BN434-1 tk.2) / "Let's Cool One" (BN438-0 tk.11)
 - BN 1603 "Hornin' In" (BN435-3 tk.7) / "Carolina Moon" (BN437-0 tk.10)
 
Blue Note 1600 series (7 inch 45 rpm)
- BN 45-1664 "'Round About Midnight" (BN321-1) / "In Walked Bud" (BN318-3)
 - BN 45-1646 "Lillie" [Milt Jackson] (BN423-1 tk.4) / "Willow Weep for Me" (BN397-0) [credited to Milt Jackson]
 
LPs
10-inch LPs
The recording sessions had been issued in various forms before 12 inch LP era of BLP-1500 series. And initial 12 inch LP versions still contained the six Blue Note recording sessions in non-chronological configurations. CD versions became to reflect the recording dates roughly in the following notes:
- 1951: Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1 (Blue Note LP 5002)
 - 1951: Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2 (Blue Note LP 5009)
 - 1952: Milt Jackson (Blue Note LP 5011)
 
12-inch LPs
The recording sessions had been issued in various forms before 12 inch LP era of BLP-1500 series. And initial 12 inch LP versions still contained the six Blue Note recording sessions in non-chronological configurations. CD versions became to reflect the recording dates roughly in the following notes:
- 1956: Milt Jackson (BLP 1509) – 1948, 1951 and 1952 Blue Note recording sessions
 - 1956: Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1 (BLP 1510) – 1947 Blue Note recording sessions
 - 1956: Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2 (BLP 1511) – 1951 and 1952 Blue Note recording sessions
 
Live albums
- 1993: Discovery! Live at the Five Spot – Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane – live recorded at the Five Spot Café in 1958
 - 2005: Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall – live recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1957
 
Box sets
- 1983: The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk (Mosaic Records 4 LP Boxed Set, MR4-101)
 - 1994: The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk (Blue Note, 4 CD Boxed Set)
 
Prestige Records (1952–1954)
LPs
Original 10-inch LPs
Before their eventual formulation into three somewhat haphazard, non-chronological 12-inch LPs, Thelonious Monk's Prestige output consisted of five strictly chronological 10-inch (shorter-duration) LPs. The LPs were re-released by Craft Records in a limited edition in 2017. The LPs were released in the 1950s as follows:[2][3][4][5]
- Thelonious Monk Trio: Thelonious (Prestige PrLP 142) – recorded on October 15, 1952 (side A) and December 18, 1952 (side B)
 - Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows For LP, Featuring Sonny Rollins (Prestige PrLP 166) – recorded on November 13, 1953
 - Thelonious Monk Quintet (with Frank Foster, Art Blakey) (Prestige PrLP 180) – recorded on May 11, 1954
 - Thelonious Monk Plays (with Percy Heath and Art Blakey) (Prestige PrLP 189) – recorded on September 22, 1954
 - Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk (Prestige PrLP 190) – recorded on October 25, 1954,
 
The majority of the contents of the first 4 of these five LPs were released, sequenced mostly in order, on a Prestige double-LP compilation in 1972, PR/PRT 24006, Thelonious Monk. The exception was the take of "Think of One" selected; on the compilation, Take 1 was used instead of the originally-selected Take 2.
Recompilations as 12-inch LP albums
- Thelonious Monk Trio (Prestige 7027, 1956) – recorded in 1952–54
 - Monk (Prestige 7053, 1956) – recorded in 1953-54
 - Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (Prestige 7075, 1956) – recorded in 1953-54
 
Riverside Records (1955–1961)
- Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington (1956) – recorded in 1955
 - The Unique Thelonious Monk (1956)
 - Brilliant Corners (1957) – recorded in 1956
 - Thelonious Himself (1957)
 - Monk's Music (1957)
 - Mulligan Meets Monk (1957) with Gerry Mulligan
 - Thelonious in Action with Johnny Griffin (1958) – live at The Five Spot Café
 - Misterioso (1958) – recorded on the same date with Thelonious in Action above
 - The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall (1959) – Charlie Rouse joined the band then
 - 5 by Monk by 5 (1959)
 - Thelonious Alone in San Francisco (1959)
 - Thelonious Monk at the Blackhawk with Charlie Rouse (1960)
 - Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (1961) – recorded in 1957. inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.
 - Thelonious Monk in Italy (1963) – recorded in 1961
 - Monk in France (1965) – live recorded in 1961
 - The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (2006) – collection of the 1957 studio recordings with John Coltrane
 
Columbia Records (1962–1968)
- Monk's Dream (1963) – recorded in 1962
 - Criss-Cross (1963) – recorded in 1962-63
 - In Tokyo 1 and In Tokyo 2 (1963) – live recorded on May 21, 1963, later released together in edited and complete forms as Monk in Tokyo (1969, 1973)
 - Miles & Monk at Newport (1964) – recorded in 1963, with unrelated 1958 Miles Davis performance
 - Big Band and Quartet in Concert (1964) – live recorded in 1963
 - It's Monk's Time (1964)
 - Monk (1965) – recorded in 1964
 - Solo Monk (1965) – recorded in 1964-65
 - Misterioso (Recorded on Tour) (1965) – live
 - Straight, No Chaser (1967) – recorded in 1966-67
 - Underground (1968) – recorded in 1967-68
 - Monk's Blues (1968)
 - Live at the It Club (1982) – live recorded in 1964
 - Live at the Jazz Workshop (1982) – live recorded in 1964
 
On other labels
- 1954: Piano Solo (Disques Vogue, 1954) - the first solo piano album, recorded in Paris on June 4, 1954
 - 1959: Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 (Sam, 2017) – recorded on July 27, 1959
 - 1961: Complete 1961 Amsterdam Concert (Solar, 2014) – recorded on April 15, 1961
 - 1961: April in Paris (Milestone, 1981) – recorded on April 18, 1961
 - 1961: Live in Stockholm (Dragon, 1987) – recorded on May 16, 1961
 - 1963: Mønk (Gearbox, 2018) – recorded on March 5, 1963
 - 1963: Monk in Tokyo (CBS/Sony, 1969, 1973) – live recorded in Tokyo on May 21, 1963; edited and complete forms of In Tokyo LPs
 - 1963: The Classic Quartet (Candid, 2006, 2023) – live recorded for TV in Tokyo during 1963 tour of Japan (also released under the title Thelonious Monk 1963 Japan by various labels, first in 1983); different performance from the Monk in Tokyo album[6]
 - 1963: Live at Monterey Jazz Festival '63 (Storyville, 1994) – live recorded on September 21 & 22, 1963
 - 1964: Live in Paris, 1964 (France's Concert, 1989) – live recorded at Maison de la Radio on February 23, 1964
 - 1964: Live at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival Records, 2007) – live recorded on September 20, 1964
 - 1967: Thelonious Monk Nonet Live in Paris 1967 (France's Concert, 1988) – live recorded on November 3, 1967
 - 1968: Palo Alto (Impulse!, 2020) – live recorded at Palo Alto High School on October 27, 1968[7][8]
 - 1969: Paris 1969 (Laser Swing Productions/Blue Note, 2013)[CD + DVD-Video] – live recorded at Salle Pleyel in Paris on December 15, 1969
 - 1971: The Man I Love (Black Lion, 1971) – recorded on November 15, 1971
 - 1971: Something in Blue (Black Lion, 1972) – recorded on November 15, 1971
 - 1971: Blue Sphere (Black Lion, ?) – recorded on November 15, 1971
 
Compilations
- Monk's Miracles (1966)
 - Monk's Greatest Hits (Columbia, 1968)
 - The Best of Thelonious Monk (Riverside Records, 1969)
 - Midnight at Minton's (c.1941, issued 1973 under Don Byas' name. Monk does not play on all tracks of this or the other two CDs of 1941 material)
 - After Hours (c.1941, issued 1973 under Charlie Christian's name)
 - After Hours in Harlem (c.1941, issued 1973 under Hot Lips Page's name)
 - Monk's Classic Recordings (1983)
 - Blues Five Spot (1984, unissued recordings from 1958 to 1961, with various saxophonists and Thad Jones, cornet)
 - The Complete Riverside Recordings of Thelonious Monk (1991, 15 CD, Riverside)
 - The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk (1994, 4 CD, Blue Note)
 - Monk Alone: The Complete Solo Studio Recordings of Thelonious Monk 1962–1968 (1998, 2 CD, Sony)
 - The Complete Prestige Recordings of Thelonious Monk (2000, 3 CD, Prestige)
 - The Columbia Years: '62–'68 (2001, 3 CD, Sony)
 - The Essential Thelonious Monk (2003, CD, Columbia/Legacy)
 - The Complete Vogue Recordings/The Black Lion Sessions (1954–71) (3LP, Mosaic)[9]
 - All Monk. The Riverside Albums (2010, 16 CD, Universal)
 - The Thelonious Monk Quartet Complete Columbia Studio Albums Collection (2012, 6 CD, Sony)
 - The Thelonious Monk Complete Columbia Live Albums Collection (2015, 10 CD, Sony)
 
As sideman
With Art Blakey
- Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (Atlantic, 1958)
 - The Giants of Jazz (Atlantic, 1971)
 
With Dave Brubeck
- Summitt Sessions (Columbia, 1970) – 1 track
 
With Miles Davis
- Bags' Groove (Prestige, 1954)
 - Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants (Prestige, 1954)
 
With Coleman Hawkins
- Bean and the Boys (Prestige, 1972) – recorded in 1944. 4 tracks only.
 
With Milt Jackson
- Wizard of the Vibes (Blue Note, 1948) – a.k.a. Milt Jackson (Blue Note, 1956)
 
With Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
- Bird and Diz (Verve, 1950)
 
With Sonny Rollins
- Moving Out (Prestige, 1954)
 - Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1957)
 
With Gigi Gryce
- Nica's Tempo (Savoy, 1955)
 
With Clark Terry
- In Orbit (Riverside, 1958)
 
References
- ↑ "Blue Note Records Catalog: 78 RPM series".
 - ↑ Ingalls, Chris, "Thelonious Monk: The Complete Prestige 10-inch LP Collection", popmatters.com, 20 December 2017.
 - ↑ "Craft To Release Historic Box Set of Monk on 10-Inch Vinyl", DownBeat, November 16, 2017.
 - ↑ Amarosi, AD, "Thelonious Monk, “The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection”, Flood Magazine, December 21st 2017.
 - ↑ Helfet, Gabriela, "Five Thelonious Monk albums remastered and reissued in new 10″ box set", thevinylfactory.com, October 31, 2017.
 - ↑ Jim Hynes (2 June 2023). "Recorded Live in Japan in 1963, Candid Records Reissues Re-Mastered 'Thelonious Monk – The Classic Quartet' (ALBUM REVIEW)". glidemagazine.com. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
 - ↑ Stone, Sam, "Epistrophy: Unreleased Thelonious Monk 'Palo Alto' Concert Arrives in July", theseconddisc.com, June 19, 2020.
 - ↑ King, Noel, and Nate Chinen, "A Previously Unreleased Thelonious Monk Concert Is Coming Next Month", NPR, June 19, 2020.
 - ↑ "Out-Of-Print Limited Edition Jazz Collections". Mosaic Records - Home for Jazz fans!. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
 
External links
- Thelonious Monk's discography
 - Covers and Liner Notes of Blue Note 10" LPs: http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Record/BlueNote1/index.htm
 - Covers and Liner Notes of Blue Note 12" LPs: http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Record/BlueNote2/index.htm
 - Blue Note 78 rpm series (12 inch 78 rpm) - BN 1 Meade "Lux" Lewis - Melancholy / Solitude 1939
 - Blue Note Records Catalog: 45 rpm 1600 series - single index