Thelonious Monk‘s birthday today. For previous Thelonious Monk postings on The Allen Ginsberg Project – see here and here
Today, we spotlight Alain Gomis extraordinary new documentary film. Not your standard music documentary, Rewind & Play radically repurposes archival performance footage and interview outtakes (from Monk’s December 1969 appearance on the Parisian television program, Jazz Portrait) to expose the burden of trivialization and patronizing ignorance that he was forced to confront and that he heroically and unambiguously transcends, presenting a subtle yet searing exposé of casual racism.
Rewind and Play will be playing at the New York City Film Festival this evening.
& tune into WKCR’s annual Thelonious Monk Birthday Broadcast:
“For 24 hours straight we will broadcast a mix of live & archival programming featuring music and commentary on Monk’s life & jazz legacy. Listen online through our webstream (wkcr.org) from 7AM-5PM”
Monk in 1958 at the Newport Jazz Festival – “Blue Monk” – from Jazz on A Summer’s Day