Underground - Plak

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After nearly a decade of historic, career-defining LPs for top jazz independent labels Blue Note, Prestige and Riverside from 1952 to 1961, piano colossus Thelonious Monk arrived in 1962 at Columbia, the first and only major record label affiliation of his career. There he released six masterful, distinctive albums (all produced by Teo Macero) that are as integral to his lifetime's work as anything he created before or after.<br /><br /> 1968's "Underground", Monk's Columbia swan song as well as the last assembly of his celebrated 60's quartet with Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), Larry Gales (bass) and Ben Riley (drums), earned a place in many LP collections because of its Grammy Award-winning 'underground' bunker cover photo. <br /><br /> Several new pieces are introduced by the composer here including "Ugly Beauty", "Boo Boo's Birthday" and "Green Chimneys" (although first recorded during the earlier "Straight, No Chaser" sessions, the first released version of "Green Chimneys" was this one on "Underground"). The 7-song set ends with a bow to fellow piano great Bud Powell with "In Walked Bud", featuring hip new lyrics and vocals by Jon Hendricks.<br /><br /> This new edition of Thelonious Monk's "Underground" from ORG Music has been mastered from the original analog tapes by Bernie Grundman and has been pressed on numbered limited 180g audiophile-grade vinyl of 2,000 copies at Pallas Group in Germany.