The best selling album of November 19th is Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. Never being a big fan of Coltrane, I didn't know why it was such a top seller so I thought I would investigate.
Lloyd Sachs from Amazon provided me with some answers. As Sachs put it, every year sees a crop of newly found jazz gems, but rarely are listeners treated to anything as special as this 1957 concert recording of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, which was accidentally discovered in an unmarked box by a Library of Congress engineer early in 2005. Until now, fans could only dream of hearing these two immortals play together beyond the three studio tracks they left behind. But here they are, hitting their stride at an all-star benefit concert, basking in the chemistry they had developed in Monk's quartet during the preceding weeks at New York's Five Spot.
In 1957, Coltrane was thrown out of Miles Davis' band for heroin use. He managed to kick his habit and now we see how truely music can clense the soul. One of the best performances to hit a concert as a result of Coltrane turning to music instead of the needle.
So there we have it. The reason for the season is pleasen' and Coletrane is what's pleasing our ears this season. Enjoy!
# wj is a contributing author