This alternate take of Thelonious Monk's "Off Minor" from the 1957 sessions that produced Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane features an expanded ensemble including the venerable Coleman Hawkins on tenor saxophone and Ray Copeland on trumpet. Hawkins, who had championed Monk's music when few others would, delivers a single chorus of the 32-bar AABA form in G minor with the harmonic authority and rhythmic sophistication that had defined his playing since the 1920s. Copeland follows with a trumpet chorus that navigates the tune's tricky intervals and displaced accents with care. Monk himself takes the most extended solo at one and a half choruses, his angular piano lines and strategic use of silence creating the sense of musical architecture that distinguished his improvisational approach. Art Blakey closes with a brief quarter-chorus drum statement, his powerful attack adding an exclamation point to the proceedings. "Off Minor" is one of Monk's most distinctive compositions, its melody built on intervals and rhythmic patterns that subvert conventional bebop expectations. This take captures the spontaneous energy of the session, with the larger ensemble giving the performance a different character from the smaller group tracks on the album.
