Thelonious Monk – Rare Concert Poster For One Of His Last Appearances
An extremely are concert poster for one of Thelonious Monk’s last live appearances, at a tribute concert held in his honor at Carnegie Hall on April 6, 1974. According to the Carnegie Hall website, “Monk wasn’t on the bill for the third event, a tribute to his music by the New York Jazz Repertory Company on April 6, 1974—in fact, he wasn’t even expected to attend the concert. According to the great impresario George Wein (who had not only organized the concert, but also established the sadly short-lived jazz repertory group earlier that year), pianist Barry Harris, who was booked to perform on the concert, called Monk to inform him of the event and ask him to play. Nobody really expected Monk show up, but he did; just as the band was getting ready to start, he surprised everyone by walking out on stage, sitting down, and playing the entire concert. Of course, he didn’t know the arrangements and hadn’t rehearsed a single minute with the group, but it hardly mattered. In his recent biography Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, author Robin D. G. Kelley described the entire evening as “electric.” On drums that night was Monk’s son, T. S. (“Toot”), who said it was “absolutely magical.” Critic Martin Williams went so far as to call it “one of the great moments in American music of my lifetime.”
14″ x 18″, in near mint condition, with the year written in brown felt tip at the bottom. We know of no other surviving examples of this rare poster.
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