THELONIOUS ASSAULT
This is producer Hal Willner's second multi-artiste tribute to a recently deceased composer of renown, his first being the 1981 homage to film scorer and Fellini collaborator Nino Rota. This time the honoree is pianist Thelonious Monk, a jazz musician as celebrated for his distinctive composition as for his wonderfully eccentric style of improvising and, as before, Willner has assembled, along with some logical choices, musicians not generally associated with the music at hand.
THELONIOUS ASSAULT
VARIOUS ARTISTS That's The Way I Feel Now _(A&M)_
Richard C. Walls
by
This is producer Hal Willner's second multi-artiste tribute to a recently deceased composer of renown, his first being the 1981 homage to film scorer and Fellini collaborator Nino Rota. This time the honoree is pianist Thelonious Monk, a jazz musician as celebrated for his distinctive composition as for his wonderfully eccentric style of improvising and, as before, Willner has assembled, along with some logical choices, musicians not generally associated with the music at hand. It's a gimmick, but a wellmeant one—the presence of people like Joe Jackson, Donald Fagen, and Todd Rundgren will supposedly attract people unfamiliar with Monk and his music, and Willner has prepared for the results of this cultual outreach by listing on the album's sleeve the still available records where Monk's own versions of the compositions can be found.