Thelonious Monk
Piano Solo on
Evidence

About

Thelonious Monk's piano solo is the second of three improvisations on this recording, following Griffin's six-chorus tenor saxophone statement. Taking five choruses of the 32-bar AABA form in E-flat at 196 BPM, Monk delivers an extended improvisation on his own contrafact, which is based on the chord changes of "Just You, Just Me." His solo is a characteristic display of angular melodies, unexpected silences, and rhythmic displacements that create a wholly personal narrative over the familiar harmonic framework.

Thelonious Monk was 40 to 41 years old at the time.