If
Thelonious Monk
had been born 20 years later in Europe, he may indeed have been
Misha Mengelberg
. No other player/composer/improviser with the exception of
Steve Lacy
has been able to so completely enter into the harmonic mindset of
Monk
(and for that matter, the technical genius of his counterpart
Herbie Nichols
). And as much as that would be enough for so many on the scene today, it is a compliment the iconoclastic Mr.
Mengelberg
would shun because it is only a part of what he does. This glorious double CD represents literally the two days
spent in Chicago in 1998. One CD is a studio session, the other a live date.
wasted no time in exploiting the many talents of his collaborators, who include saxophonists
Fred Anderson
,
Ken Vandermark
and
Ab Baars
, cellist
Fred Lonberg-Holm
, bassists
Kent Kessler
Wilbert de Joode
, and drummers
Hamid Drake
Martin van Duyunhoven
. The first CD is a wildly mixed bag. First there is the
reading of
's
"Eronel."
With
Vandermark
Drake
as his sidemen, without a bassist,
has already changed the model. With the hollow spot in the rhythm section apparent, he just lets it stand, an element that needs not be filled because of
's fine, swinging, soulful solo.
himself is dancing around with
, trading fours and comping just persuasively enough to give
the nod for another chorus or two. When he takes his own solo you can see why there isn't a bassist: There's no room, with
claiming all the space around the piano and
alternating lines from
Nichols
Tatum
, and
while slipping his own extended 12ths (!) into a melodic interval framework that is just breathtaking. The same is true of the other
contribution here:
"Off Minor."
Here, it's all
and his spooky, shaded, diminished sevenths that hold the tune while
blows under the authority of his piano. The various quartets and trios that make up the remainder of disc one are truly beautiful examples of what
does as an improviser: He sheds all preconceived notion of what music is supposed to be when made on the spot and spontaneously composes with his groups. There are shards of meaning in each phrase as these groups eke out a syntax and structural conception for each piece. Disc two, the live set, is perhaps even more remarkable. It begins with the nearly 30-minute
"Chicago Solo."
gives his audience a full-on look into his method, madness, and mind as a musician. He creates no less than ten themes and their variations, and moves them through strange configurations of
Puccini
Beethoven
before
Tristano
Teddy Wilson
appear as ghosts to carry them off. This flows seamlessly into a gorgeous reading of
"'Round Midnight,"
which flows seamlessly into a duo, another solo, and finally a nearly seven-minute version of
"Body and Soul
with a sextet that is notable not only for the sensitivity of
's adaption, but the empathy he coaxes from his musicians and the depth of emotion conveyed -- even as
Baars
arm-wrestles with his saxophone and his own stormy relationship to such a beautiful standard. This is easily one of
's finest recorded moments and shows him in all of his roles, shining with rough-hewn elegance and finely crafted edges. ~ Thom Jurek