'Round Midnight

'Round Midnight is a ballad composed by Thelonious Monk, widely regarded as the most recorded jazz composition written by a jazz musician. Monk wrote the piece around 1940-1941, copyrighting it in September 1943 under the title I Need You So. The first recording was made not by Monk but by Cootie Williams and His Orchestra on August 22, 1944, after Bud Powell brought the tune to Williams's attention. Monk's own first recording came on November 21, 1947, for Blue Note Records on The Genius of Modern Music: Volume One. Dizzy Gillespie contributed a now-famous introduction and coda, adapted from his arrangement of I Can't Get Started, which Monk incorporated into his own performances from 1947 onward. The melody is haunting and spare, moving through angular intervals and blues-inflected phrases that evoke a distinctly late-night atmosphere. Its harmonic language, featuring half-diminished chords and chromatic voice leading, gives the tune a dark sophistication that has drawn hundreds of interpretations across jazz and beyond. Notable versions in the AllSolos library include Thelonious Monk's own quartet recording on Misterioso with Johnny Griffin on tenor saxophone, Lee Konitz's trio performance on Alone Together with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden, Samara Joy's vocal rendition featuring Terell Stafford on trumpet from Linger Awhile, and Chad Lefkowitz-Brown's reading on Thelonious Monk Tribute with Steven Feifke and Dan Chmielinski.