Monk's Time 冥想坐垫 - 高品质打坐垫，舒适支撑，适合瑜伽、冥想、禅修，提升专注力与放松体验

By 1964, the year The Beatles invaded America, Thelonious Monk had become one of the undisputed giants of jazz. A long distinguished career preceded this landmark year and saw Monk not only on the cover of Time magazine, but also releasing an album duo. Apparently someone wanted store shelves overflowing with Monk material while his face graced one of America's most highly circulated magazines. Who can blame them? In the 1960s, making the cover of Time, in terms of pop culture ubiquity, equated to today's frenetically viral Internet videos (possibly a sad statement on today's information culture). Almost everyone saw it.As Monk's popularity increased exponentially, many simultaneously accused him of unoriginal and uncreative rehashing. Becoming famous must be a drag. After signing with Columbia Records, some critics found his new output rather repetitive in comparison to his extensive Riverside catalog. One would think that the excellent, adventurous and wonderfully odd "It's Monk's Time" would have dampened such brickbats. Not only did it include three entirely new compositions, but also enticing and thoroughly Monkish reworkings of three standards. Admittedly, some of the music seems a little bizarre even for Monk, but the never ending angular charm of Monk's style and groove makes this an unmissable album for lovers of the maestro of happy dissonant bebop. The playful joy inherent in this music, and in all of Monk's music, could probably put an end to antidepressants.Monk puts his unmistakably effervescent signature on the jouncy ditty "Lulu's Back in Town," made popular by Fats Waller. The wild solo piano introduction speaks for itself and remains a largely under-appreciated performance. This certainly doesn't sound like someone in decline or mired in lackadaisical rehashing. As usual, Monk's idiosyncratic ideas of harmony make this interpretation completely and permanently his own. The same goes for the lovely and bittersweet piano solo "Memories of You." Monk simply owns it. As food for the critics, he had recorded it back in 1956 for his second Riverside Album that featured the slightly patronizing but nonetheless accurate title "The Unique Thelonious Monk." Regardless, this later version emanates plenty of longing melancholy to keep anyone entranced, repeat or not. The Gershwins' "Nice Work If You Can Get It" receives the same amazing treatment as the other cover songs, once again with solo piano played in perfectly skewed Monk-esque harmony.The original songs, all with ineffable two word titles and amongst the final songs Monk wrote, successfully push the edge almost towards the bizarre. "Stuffy Turkey" contains a melody that manages to remain somewhat elliptical but still hopelessly catchy. It definitely swings. The interplay between piano and saxophone throughout defies logic and demonstrates just how tightly bound these players became musically. At one point, Monk plummets to the lower end of the piano, hitting staccato earthquake notes while also ascending to the polar opposite end of the keyboard. Then the two ends appear together in unison, extreme high and extreme low, octaves apart. Rarely do pianists traverse the piano so extensively. Monk used every key. "Brake's Sake" continues the indescribably intriguing melodic structure of "Stuffy Turkey" and the almost fireworks intensity keyboard dancing. Again the immensely skilled ensemble keeps this machine driving forward. "Shuffle Boil," which ended the original release, features squeakily acrobatic saxophone overlaying cascading piano. This may qualify as the album's strangest number, though few would deny its addictive inventive groove.No one would probaly know it by listening to Monk's late albums today, but he did decline throughout the 1960s. His health worsened and by the early 1970s public performances utterly ceased. Theories abound as to the cause of this downhill slide, but mental health or damage caused by aggressive treatment for mental health remain two prevalent speculations. He apparently languished for six years, not playing a note on the piano in his room, and passed away in 1982. He is buried in the same cemetery as James Baldwin, Béla Bartók, Cab Calloway, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Oscar Hammerstein, Malcolm X, Paul Robeson, Ed Sullivan, Nicola Tesla and many others. Jim Henson and John Lennon were also cremated there. Monk likely keeps them all well entertained.The spirit of Monk's singular approach to jazz permeates "It's Monk's Time." Somewhat neglected and, at times in the past, difficult to find, this album belongs beside the best of his Columbia recordings. Though now Monk has partially faded into hazy legend and the heyday of jazz seems a murky indistinct memory, his music still retains an undeniable power. Anytime it plays is definitely Monk's time.