The session closes with Thelonious Monk's blues at a brisk 223 BPM, the fastest and most extended performance of the three-tune program. Calderazzo delivers four choruses on piano over the twelve-bar form, and Elling follows with two and a half choruses of vocal improvisation — the most substantial solo statements of the session. The four-minute closer brings a jolt of energy after the quiet Strayhorn ballad, with Monk's angular blues melody providing a rhythmic and harmonic jolt. Monk composed the piece in the 1940s, and its immediately recognizable melodic hook has made it one of the most played blues heads in jazz. This is the third appearance of Straight, No Chaser across the AllSolos segment catalog — also performed by the Chad LB Quartet and at Emmet's Place with Randy Brecker — and the voice-and-piano duo format here offers the most stripped-down interpretation. Elling's vocal scatting over Monk's blues brings a different dimension than the horn-driven versions elsewhere.
