Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser

source: Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser

Fans of Thelonious Monk will enjoy these snippets of his music and bits of conversation with him and some of those close to him.

Monk is one of those artists that even the very casual jazz fan knows – a group which I very much include myself in. So many of us would instantly put a name to it when we hear Round Midnight for example, but really wouldn't be able to talk much about the man himself as "proper" fans would. This was sort of what attracted me to this film because I was interested to know a little bit more about the guy. It is both a good and a bad thing that this film doesn't do that particularly, since it is not really a documentary in terms of having lots of facts and insight thrown at you. This was a little disappointing given the agenda which I came to the film with, but it was replaced by other things to enjoy since the film is very much about the music – which I guess the man was too, so that works. This focus is facilitated by lots of footage which was apparently found in the 1980's which was filmed inside the studio, out on tour, in hotel rooms etc. There isn't too much talking in this footage; I'm not sure if Monk was particularly talky but if he was then it doesn't come over in the footage we have here. What there is though is music being played live while the camera watches, small moments observed and some contributions from friends and family (although really the vast majority of the film is the music). This is welcome as it all good stuff and has that extra addition of seeing it being performed rather than just listened to on CD. If you are looking to get informed about the man and his story then this isn't the film for you, but if you like his music and want to see it performed on this very nice looking footage then it will be a very enjoyable 90 minutes and is well worth the look for that.

If you were ever curious about Thelonius Monk, the incomparable and (really) inimitable jazz pianist, this should answer most of your questions, at least about his mature years. What a guy. Forty-some years ago, Monk's portrait appeared on the cover of Time Magazine and I remember reading about the difficulty that the artist had in keep Monk upright and properly posed in his chair. Monk would take innumerable extemporaneous breaks and return with a different hat ("lid"). He appeared to keep falling asleep during the sittings. Monk never moved or spoke quickly. Everything he did seemed slow and deliberate. But the movement was almost constant. We see him walking through some sort of transportation hub, shuffling, and then he stops and begins slowly turning around -- and around and around -- leaning slightly from side to side as he twirls in slow motion, muttering to himself or to anyone nearby. He smiled when he spoke, even if his speech was barely interpretable. If he's sitting at the piano and a member of his group asks him "A flat?", he says, "Yeah, A flat." Maybe. "Is it A flat or B flat?", asks the other musician. "Yeah, B flat." All very accommodating and even a little cheerful. And it was all done with such self-absorbed deliberation. Except when he played the piano. Well, he didn't exactly "play" it, so much as he "attacked" it -- so forcefully that it seemed unlikely he was hitting the keys he intended. WHAM. WHANG. I'm not a musician so I can't do some sort of vivisection on his music. His chords crashed, his harmonies were all over the place. The lines of his melodies were uniquely jagged. He could play anything, including cocktail piano -- "Laura" and the like -- but it was never likely to make you feel warm and fuzzy. Maybe that's why so few people can name any of his compositions except maybe "Round Midnight." They're not likely to walk down the street whistling "Straight, No Chaser." It's not my impression that he had a wide influence. His style -- either his playing or his composing -- never founded a school or anything. How could it? There wasn't anyone else like him. The documentary gives the viewer about equal parts of Monk playing and Monk doing things like sitting on the subway, mumbling once in a while, grinning at some thought or some memory that looks as if it's swimming in the benthic depths of his impenetrable mind. Thank God his wife Nellie helped him get some of it out.

Clint Eastwood presents: a documentary about jazz genius. Thelonius Monk is portrayed as an artist both blessed and cursed just by his genius. Apart from typical format of 'talking heads' of the genre master (John Coltrane), collaborators, figures from music business and Thelonius, Jr., there is shown small but intense piece of the musician's life: in the studio, on the road, during live concerts. And a note about unusual, long-lasting friendship between Thelonius and Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter. The makers were able to grasp tension coming from creative process (songs being written on the run, then played in front of huge audience without proper rehearsal), routine of life on tour with ever-tendering wife Nellie by his side, biased or just silly questions from journalists, more or less visible symptoms of mental illness (which might have been confused with artist's mannerisms, stage antics or eccentricities at most). And trademark exotic hats (could anyone else in the 20th century look cool in that historic Polish head thingy?). Another memorable thing is Monk's diction and his simple, street-like way of talking, being in contradiction with the kind of a man he was (supposedly extremely complex one) and with undeniably sophisticated music he composed and performed. Luckily, there is plenty here of the latter. Chamber, suggestive film in black and white about an extraordinary man. And a must not just for "jazz purists" but music lovers in general.

A documentary not just about Thelonius Monk and what made him tick, but also the bands he worked with and other famous musicians. Combine that with the fact that these bands and musicians represent the most important and significant change in Jazz, perhaps in all music, and you get some idea of how colossal this film is.

This is an iconic film about a true Jazz icon. But the film has a serious flaw. There is no mention of the 1959 Town Hall Concert, painstakingly reconstructed in 2009 by MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran. There is no mention of W. Eugene Smith's Jazz Loft on 6th Avenue in New York City where the concert was organized. There is no mention of Hall Overton, the Juilliard professor by day and Jazz aficionado by night, who help Monk with the musical arrangements. See http://nymag.com/arts/popmusic/features/54627/ , an article about Moran's work, with a photo taken in the Jazz Loft with both Monk and Overton.

The facts in the life of the virtuoso jazz pianist are somewhat neglected in favor of the music itself, with most of the film devoted to various live performances and rare, behind-the-stage rehearsal footage. The latter scenes give this otherwise straightforward portrait its most revealing moments, showing how complex and exacting the work of jazz composition and arrangement can be. Biographical details are filled in by friends and family but never probed in depth: was Monk, for example, actually suffering some form of mental illness, or was his peculiar behavior merely the pose of an eccentric artist? If for no one else the film is a must for jazz fans and musicians (it was produced by Clint Eastwood).

Even though I knew enough about Thelonius Monk before watching Straight, No Chaser- mostly from the Ken Burns Jazz documentary- I never would have expected the guy to be like this. He's almost in his own sort of world, but one that can tune into things that most musicians would never ever think of tapping into. His genius was that of a kind of strange maverick who used the piano like one of the surrealist painters, in a style that would be furthered along in the horn section by Coltrane and the avant-garde jazz scene, where the tempo is not one easily distinguishable. As a jazz fan, it's like seeing a figure who intuitively knows the beats, the rhythms, and lays in his own interpretations of where and how these rhythms can be changed and modified for a particular, unique form in the realm of music. So his appeal, really, doesn't need to be totally squared away; this is one of the pleasures of Charlotte Zwerin's work (previous collaborator with the Maysles brothers, with a similar sight for detail if not the sharpest eye in documentary film), as she can peer into what Monk is about in the recording studio and in concerts, and still remain something of an enigma. He's not as volatile as Miles Davis was, nor as gentleman-like as Duke Ellington, but he has a way with people, as evidence here, on a wavelength all his own, topped off with a really cool hat and a speaking voice that wanders off like his music. If you're already a fan do seek it out post-haste, but also if you've never heard of the guy and pass by the DVD in the music-section, it might turn some over to the craziest madman-genius of the jazz piano. Grade: A

If you want to know what it is like to live be a jazz musician, it is important that you see this movie. As a jazz musician myself I have yet to see a film which captures the true essence of not just being Thelonious, but being a jazz musician in general. Thelonious Monk might just be the greatest jazz composer who ever lived, and this film is a tribute to his entire career. If you want to learn about a great musician, the life of being a jazz musician or even just how to make a good documentary, you must see this film.