The Lost Recording Sapphire Edition® pushes the boundaries of audio media. It is the pinnacle of our latest innovations in restoration and manufacturing processes, without any constraints or compromises, thus delivering an unprecedented musical experience.
When he took the stage at the Club Doelen in Rotterdam on 28 October 1967, Thelonious Monk had just turned 50. Fifteen years later he would disappear from the music scene, taking refuge for the last six years of his life in New York at Pannonica de Koenigswater, never to touch the piano again. Flanked by the two “classics” “Ruby, My Dear” and “Blue Monk”, he leads the quartet of his three accomplices, Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales, Ben Riley and their guests, for more than an hour and 20 minutes. Larry Gales’ bass pops out of a box at the end of “Hackensack”, the brass gets carried away in the middle of “We See”; they answer each other by swirling in the dizzying “Oska”. And in the middle of the concert, a solo moment on ‘Don’t Blame Me’: everything appears contrasting, twisted, oblique, each note seeming to be surprised by the previous one. Monk first goes around the melody from behind before bringing it back, pure, to the front. Finally they close: “Blue Monk”, all classical restraint.
Thelonius Monk, Piano
Charlie Rouse, Tenor Sax
Larry Gales, Bass
Ben Riley, Drums
Guests :
Clark Terry, Trumpet
Ray Copeland, Trumpet
Jimmy Cleveland, Trombone
Phil Woods, Alto Sax
Johnny Griffin, Tenor Sax
Recorded at De Doelen, Rotterdam, 28.X.1967
STEREO ℗ 1967 NOS
Remastered by ℗ & © 2025 THE LOST RECORDINGS
from the original analog tapes
Lacquer-cuts: Kevin Gray
200g Double Ultimate Record®
Limited hand-numbered edition: 4,000 copies
Box and Tip-on Gatefold printed in Italy
Pressed and Manufactured in France