Stephen Riley
Tenor Sax Solo on
Ugly Beauty

About

Stephen Riley's tenor sax solo is the 2nd of 3 on this recording, following Vic Juris's electric guitar and followed by Jay Anderson on acoustic bass. Spanning two choruses of the 32-bar AABA form at a relaxed 99 BPM with a waltz feel in D♭, the solo runs approximately 1:56. Playing Monk's music requires a willingness to embrace angular melodic movement and unexpected harmonic turns, and Riley's approach balances respect for Monk's compositional idiosyncrasies with his own deeply personal improvisational voice. Stephen Riley was 43 to 44 years old at the time of this 2019 recording.

Stephen Riley was 43 to 44 years old at the time.