Jazz is an abandonment of preset chord progressions and a lack of melodic patterns, but it is far more than that. It is colors, feelings, designs, straight lines, crooked lines, and wavy lines. All these things are Jazz because when you are listening to a good groove you can see and feel them.

Thelonious Monk is one of the jazz greats; he started playing the piano at the age of five and got his first gig following an evangelist accompanying his sermons. In the early 1940s Monk started searching for his own sound and style.

Monk had some hard times, because his style was before its time and so out there during the era of be-bop. Listeners and other players thought he couldn’t play the piano. Also, due to his name and his introverted personality and sound style, they assumed he was a nut case.

Though after some time, he gained popularity and his sound changed the face of jazz-turning it into something that could be more free, funky, dirty and emotional. Monk was featured on the cover issue of Time Magazine in February 1964, and an article with many pages was dedicated to him.

“Straight no Chaser,” as preformed by Monk, brings an image of a dark bar with those glass-red candles, a small stage, people swing dancing, and girls in saddle shoes getting tossed up into the air. Or, a wild night in the city with your friends slamming drinks and running around. Monk had this power to bring images to one’s mind with his style of music.

“Around Midnight,” another one of Monk’s master pieces, gives off a feeling of slow laziness; imagine laying around late at night, looking up watching the stars rolling through the black velvety night sky, dreaming about the day that has past, and what tomorrow will bring. Something about the song just brings peace of mind to the listener.

In his later life, Monk went into isolation and after his death, like many musicians, Monk’s music became more popular and everyone started to pay Thelonious Monk tributes, so if you are looking for rhythms to relax you just get some good drinking music, you should check out some Monk.