The most expansive performance in the entire Monk tribute — and arguably across all the Chad LB Quartet's tribute sessions — this rendition of Monk's blues runs over fifteen minutes with all four musicians taking extended solos. At 230 BPM, the twelve-bar blues form cycles rapidly, and the solo lengths are staggering: Lefkowitz-Brown stretches to twenty choruses on tenor saxophone, Chmielinski and Carter each take fourteen choruses on bass and drums respectively, and Feifke contributes seven choruses on piano. The total of fifty-five solo choruses across four players gives the performance the expansive, communal feel of an extended jam. Monk wrote Straight, No Chaser in the 1940s, and its twelve-bar blues form with a characteristically angular melodic hook has made it one of the most played Monk compositions. Following the hushed ballad treatment of 'Round Midnight, the sudden eruption into high-energy blues playing creates the set's most dramatic moment of contrast.
