4.3.05
Alexander von Schlippenbach, sobre MONK'S CASINO - The Complete Works of Thelonious Monk:
"The idea of compiling the complete works of Thelonious Monk and arranging them for live performance came to us in 1996-97. Apart from the pieces we already knew, there was not much sheet music available. Taped-up photocopies of manuscripts from various sources (there was no Thelonious Monk Fake Book yet) did make it possible, though, for us to finally put everything together. The first performance took place at the now defunct Jazzhaus Trepow, where we played the whole program over and over for a week. We then put together three sets of 23 to 24 pieces each, suitable for a live concert of about three-and-a-half hours of pure music.
"The idea of compiling the complete works of Thelonious Monk and arranging them for live performance came to us in 1996-97. Apart from the pieces we already knew, there was not much sheet music available. Taped-up photocopies of manuscripts from various sources (there was no Thelonious Monk Fake Book yet) did make it possible, though, for us to finally put everything together. The first performance took place at the now defunct Jazzhaus Trepow, where we played the whole program over and over for a week. We then put together three sets of 23 to 24 pieces each, suitable for a live concert of about three-and-a-half hours of pure music.
In 1998, the complete show was first performed in a single evening at the NDR broadcast hall, for a broadcast organized by Michael Naura and the NDR jazz staff.There were also concerts in Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria. The complete show was then presented at the 2002 Berlin Jazz Festival, as well as at Nato in Leipzig and the Feuerwache in Mannheim. Before the Leipzig performance on 29 February 2004, we also did two evenings at the Berlin jazz club A-Trane. The recordings of the A-Trane concerts are on this CD.
The compositions are the most important thing here, so we did some of the pieces without any improvisation at all. We did take some liberties with the arrangements: many things came up during rehearsals and later became part of the performance. Monk's Casino is not an encyclopedic project, but an arrangement of the complete works of Thelonious Monk for live performance in one evening. At Monk's Casino, things often happen fast and sometimes get quite turbulent, too. Still, everything is well organized and, to that degree at least, under control. So here we go!"
Alexander von Schlippenbach
Axel Dörner
Rudi Mahall
Jan Roder
Uli Jennessen
Caixa de 3 CD's Intakt CD 100 / data de edição: 10 de Fevereiro de 2005
The compositions are the most important thing here, so we did some of the pieces without any improvisation at all. We did take some liberties with the arrangements: many things came up during rehearsals and later became part of the performance. Monk's Casino is not an encyclopedic project, but an arrangement of the complete works of Thelonious Monk for live performance in one evening. At Monk's Casino, things often happen fast and sometimes get quite turbulent, too. Still, everything is well organized and, to that degree at least, under control. So here we go!"
Alexander von Schlippenbach
Axel Dörner
Rudi Mahall
Jan Roder
Uli Jennessen
Caixa de 3 CD's Intakt CD 100 / data de edição: 10 de Fevereiro de 2005
