Thelonious Monk

The Life and Times of an American Original

Author: Robin Dg Kelley and Sean Crisden

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PRODUCT INFORMATION

Description

Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to make it without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the twentieth century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of bebop and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers. Elegantly written and rich with humor and pathos, Thelonious Monk is the definitive work on modern jazz's most original composer.

Critic Reviews

“Every step of Monk's musical journey is teased out in meticulous detail . . . whether he's charting the highs or lows of Monk's emotional swings, Kelley rarely strays from his central theme of an extraordinary talent pushing against the boundaries of his art.”

-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

Robin D. G. Kelley is Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA and the author of several books, including Hammer and Hoe; Africa Speaks, America Answers; and Freedom Dreams. Robin D. G. Kelley earned his PhD in history from UCLA and focused his work on social movements, politics and culture-although music remained his passion. During his tenure on the faculties of Emory University, the University of Michigan, New York University, and Columbia University, Kelley's scholarly interests shifted increasingly toward music. He has written widely on jazz, hip hop, electronic music, musicians' unions and technological displacement, and social and political movements more broadly. Kelley's essays have appeared in several anthologies and journals, including the Nation, Monthly Review, the Voice Literary Supplement, New York Times (Arts and Leisure), New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Color Lines, Code Magazine, Utne Reader, Lenox Avenue, African Studies Review, Black Music Research Journal, Callaloo, New Politics, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noir, One World, Social Text, Metropolis, American Visions, Boston Review, Fashion Theory, American Historical Review, Journal of American History, New Labor Forum, Souls, Metropolis, and more. Sean Crisden is an actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator. He has also voiced characters in numerous video games, such as the award-winning ShadowGun, and has appeared in many commercials and films, including The Last Airbender.