Today would have been the hundredth birthday of Thelonious Monk.

Back Sometime during the mid-sixties, while I was in high school, I discovered that one of my friends (nicknamed “Pod” for reasons it would be too long and complicated to get into here…) had a copy of Monk’s album Brilliant Corners. Now, I had heard tell of Monk, but had yet to actually hear any of his music, so one night I insisted that we listen to it. Here is what I heard, the album in its entirety (42:58 minutes):

Also present that night was  Ken Wauchope, whom most of you probably remember, and who, after that, became as huge an admirer of Monk as I did.

Gnostics should note that Thelonious Monk’s motto was “Always Know” – “know” being “Monk” spelled backward with the “w” turned upside down…