Thelonious Monk

Nicknamed from the beginning the " high priest of bebop ", Thelonious Monk was nonetheless a solitary and misunderstood pianist who had to wait many years before finding the recognition that was his due. Although appreciated as a composer, the man was too profoundly original to win the support of a critic and a public at the time more accustomed to the brilliance, roundness and other traits of virtuosity which characterized the masters of the keyboard from the 40s.

And it was only around fifteen years after his professional debut that his pianistic sound universe, populated with daring harmonics , abrupt phrases sometimes unfolded over the entire extent of the keyboard , articulated with a percussive swing , and carefully crafted silences sculpted , will finally be appreciated at its true value: that of the most creative pianist of the twentieth century .