A tribute to round midnight

"You know, anybody can play a composition and use far-out chords and make it sound wrong. It’s making it sound right that’s not easy."

Thelonious Monk

Round Midnight is one of those standards my father introduced me to very early. It was one of those songs we would work on to see if i could actually manage to sing. I don't think i will ever do justice to this song. I stopped trying but I was still curious to see how other musicians interpreted this song. It is one of the most recorded songs in jazz history but what makes it so popular?
You don't understand how tough it is until you try to sing/play it, the melody is not easy to listen to and yet it touched so many hearts. If you ask me its one of those songs monk composed that came from his gut. The music is haunting and beautiful sometimes even claustrophobic not really giving you any space to breathe with him cutting the meditative atmosphere with strange half notes.

It is said that Monk composed this track in the 1940s. Miles Davis used this track later as the name of his album Round about midnight. The thing about Monks compositions were that his music was way ahead of his time and that his music was never fully appreciated when it was released. Now however is a completely different story!

This first version is one by Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea. They are just fantastic together, voice and piano flowing into each other like water. This one came from the album play something i will be putting up most of in later posts. It captures that haunting quality I'm so bad at describing!It is one of my or maybe my favourite version of this track. All these versions are vocal renditions of the track.

How can one have a vocal tribute to a jazz melody without Ella? This was the first version I heard of this song after which I got slightly obsessive! She brings Round Midnight to the big band with such class. I don't know how she makes this song sound so easy! Her sense of rhythm is unbeatable she brings the swing to the song.

Cassandra Wilson has the voice for this song. Its beautiful earthy timbre was made for singing music with this kind of atmosphere. I personally prefer it to the Ella version, its got more soul.

I know Jazz hardcore's will kill me for this but when i was looking for versions on youtube I found one by Amy Winehouse! Its the most accessible version and is actually quite nice. Please listen with an open heart and open mind!

Carmen McRae

"I was vain and blind then

Prone to be unkind then

Wish they’d turn back time somehow

Then I was audacious

I ignored what was precious

How I wish you’d ask me now"

How I wish By Thelonious Monk

I have a history with jazz that goes back a long way. When I was little my dad would sing me the standards. On our long drives together we would listen to jazz and he would play out the rhythm on the car wheel while I sang.

When he figured out I could actually keep in tune he began introducing me to the great singers.

Ella Fitzgerald was our favourite! I memorized all the lines and we would spend hours singing in my parents bedroom.

I went to boarding school a few years later and every time he came he would bring me recorded cassettes of other jazz divas. I still have my first Porgy and Bess tape, its been cello taped so much I'm sure most of the album is missing.

Boarding school also changed my taste in music. I started listening to the doors, dire straits and the Beatles. My dad of course was extremely disappointed with me. We had long silent feuds because i refused to listen to his records any more.

He tried so many times, bought me CD, took me to gigs and all the while I kept pushing him away.

Only recently the two of us went to The Lincoln center jazz club in new york to listen to a gig. When I saw the happiness on his face, the devotion with which he took his photographs I realized that the only reason I have even gotten to creating this blog is because of him. What hurts even more is I don't think he has ever given up on me and never will.

I've been going through our jazz collection and found all these beautiful Cd's of almost every successful jazz diva. Carmen sings monk is one of my new favourites. I remember my father went through a phase where he listened to the instrumental version of 'It's over now' all the time. I found this song on the Cd and think it's a fantastic version. This is dedicated to my father and his incredibly strong obsession with the kind of music I am now starting to love.