Thelonious Monk: American Composer

Masters of American Music is an award-winning television series of ten shows that celebrate a pantheon of the greatest innovators in Jazz. Both the video and audio content now has been restored and remastered in accordance with state-of-the-art specifications, employing award-winning tools exclusively for this production.
Produced by Toby Byron, it was the first TV series devoted to Jazz. Individual programmes trace the lives and works of master musicians who defined the course of America's classical music. From its birth in New Orleans, to swing, the big bands, bebop, free Jazz and beyond: all of it is explored with sensitivity and in unique depth.
Through a more personal and conversational style of documentary, American Composer was the first fully rounded portrait of Monk, a terribly misunderstood man and musician. He was the pianistic ringleader of the bebop revolution and, after Duke Ellington, Jazz' first Major composer.
Thelonious Sphere Monk – a most original talent – remained a highly productive musician after more than thirty years of musical activity and continued to be a growing artist- exploring his art and extending his range. In 1964, Thelonious Monk had "arrived" appearing on the cover of Time Magazine.
With Thelonious Monk III, Ben Riley, Billy Taylor, Orrin Keepnews, Randy Weston. Filmed at Minton's Playhouse, New York City. (Verleiher-Text)