Monk's piano part on Miles Davis' The Man I Love
Charles Chen is currently working on classic piano comping; you may have already seen his collaborations on Bud Powell's and Fats Waller's (amazing job!). He contacted me to work on the tunes Monk recorded as a member of Miles Davis' band.
The Man I Love is famous for illustrating just how poorly Monk and Miles got along. Yet, for once, Miles allows Monk to accompany him—even though Monk constrains his playing, simplifying his voicings and rhythmic placement.
During the solo on the first take, Monk paraphrases the theme in a very strange way, eventually falling silent. He snaps back to life when the B section arrives, but one can sense that something odd is going on.
On the infamous second take, the beef between Monk and Miles is obvious. During Milt Jackson's solo, Monk plays fewer and fewer notes… During his solo, Monk still werdly paraphrases the theme, but the silence is more and more present, until… Monk just stops playing. For an eternity, more than 10 seconds! Obviously annoyed, Miles plays a line, as if he's trying to wake up Monk, and the pianist jumps on his stool and swing like nothing has happened. So unique!
PDF, 13 pages + piano part
