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ICP 026
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Thelonious
Monk and Herbie Nichols lived in New York. They knew each other and
although they had no apparent close relationship there was certainly a
measure of a mutual empathy. “That
Monk can scarcely play the piano but he has written one very beautiful
tune, even Miles plays it”, or Herbie Nichols, “fantastic dixieland
player. Could he be related to Red?”
Meanwhile
in 1953, I was playing boogie woogie at school dances and at night, under
the sheets, listened to the American Forces Network in Europe. There was
once even a record of Thelonious Monk played, disturbing sounds (Humph?!)
that reminded me of “Fireworks” by my hero at the time, Igor
Strawinsky.
In
those years, by the way, there were quite a lot of fireworks in the air.
Were those majestic smoke clouds from the Nevada fireworks the messengers
of the disease that 10 years later would do Herbie Nichols in? The
music on this disc, entirely along the lines of the restorative 80’s, is
the result of two programs: the first devoted to Nichols, the following to
Monk. Against better judgment, my hope is that the recordings do not sound
too second-hand, if not only due to the fact of the uninhibited treatment
of the material by my fellow musicians. - Misha Mengelberg
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ICP Orchestra plays
Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols Nichols program: Misha Mengelberg, piano;
Ab Baars, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet; Michael Moore, alto
saxophone, clarinet; Wolter Wierbos, trombone; George Lewis, trombone
(track 6 only); Maurice Horsthuis, viola; Ernst Reijseger, cello; Han
Bennink, percussion monk program nichols program arrangements by misha
mengleberg
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