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Artist Spotlight

Thelonious Monk

By Houston Gonzales, Education Programs Manager

Thelonious Monk in a beret and horn-rimmed glasses, seated at a grand piano with his hands on the keys, looking toward the camera.
Portrait of Thelonious Monk, Minton’s Playhouse, New York, N.Y.. William P. Gottlieb, ca. Sept. 1947. William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Public domain.

“Stop, you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re mistreating the greatest pianist in the world.”

As the story goes, in 1945 police raided the Savoy Ballroom and arrested Thelonious Monk for refusing to show his ID. This quote is what the legendary jazz pianist Bud Powell had to say in defense of his friend. Attempting to stand up for Monk, Powell was struck on the head with a nightstick. This account by biographer Thomas Fitterling1 leads many to believe this blow set off a struggle with mental illness that followed Powell for the rest of his life, though other accounts of the beating differ.2

Many know Monk for his innovations. What is less known about Monk is his loyalty and gratitude toward his friends. Monk wrote the tune “In Walked Bud” as a tribute to Powell, and many biographies tie it to the Savoy incident.3 He based it on the popular Irving Berlin song “Blue Skies.”4 “In Walked Bud” is now a jazz standard that has been recorded by some of the greatest musicians across the tradition, including modern masters. Check out Clarence Penn’s version, recorded in 2012, alongside Monk’s 1947 recording, and listen for the difference in emotional content each artist draws out.5

Listen

In Walked Bud, Thelonious Monk

Recorded 1947. Released on Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 2013).

In Walked Bud, Clarence Penn

Recorded 2012. Released on Monk: The Lost Files (Origin Records, 2014).

Sources

  1. Thomas Fitterling, Thelonious Monk: His Life and Music (1997), as summarized in Wikipedia, “In Walked Bud”. ↩

  2. Wikipedia’s “In Walked Bud” notes that Miles Davis said a Savoy Ballroom bouncer beat Powell, while Dexter Gordon placed the beating in police custody in Philadelphia. Peter Pullman’s chronology for Wail: The Life of Bud Powell dates a beating by railroad police in Philadelphia to January 19, 1945. ↩

  3. Wikipedia, “In Walked Bud”: Monk composed it “as a tribute to friend and fellow jazz pianist Bud Powell,” and many biographies of Powell cite it as Monk’s gratitude for Powell’s defense of him. ↩

  4. The tune follows the chord progression of “Blue Skies” (Irving Berlin, 1927); Gabriel Solis, Monk’s Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History in the Making (2007), p. 149, cited in Wikipedia, “In Walked Bud”. ↩

  5. Monk recorded “In Walked Bud” for Blue Note on November 21, 1947 (Thelonious Monk discography, jazzdisco.org). Penn’s version was recorded in 2012 and released in 2014 on Monk: The Lost Files (Origin Records). ↩

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