PLAYS DUKE ELLINGTON

Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington is a 1955 album by Thelonious Monk, comprising his recordings of well-known songs by Duke Ellington. It was Monk's first album to be released by Riverside Records. Playing with Monk are bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Kenny Clarke. Ellington was (and is) arugably the most important American jazz composer of his generation and alongside Louis Armstrong and Count Basie, he had been one of the most popular and successful performers and recording artists of the Thirties and Forties.
The very first 12-inch album in what was to be a most significant catalog also marked the Riverside debut of an artist of towering importance. Fittingly, it was a strikingly original concept: a then-unappreciated revolutionary interpreting the music of a recognized master composer. Once ahead of its time, Monk Plays Ellington now stands as an enduring jazz landmark.
Recorded in Hackensack, New Jersey; July 21st 1955
Track listing
1. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) 4:38
2. Sophisticated Lady 4:27
3. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good 5:52
4. Black And Tan Fantasy 3:24
5. Mood Indigo 3:13
6. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart 5:40
7. Solitude 3:42
8. Caravan 5:55