Duke University to Honor Anniversary of Monk at Town Hall With NY Concerts

  I  

Duke University will present concerts on Feb. 26 and 27 at New York’s Town Hall to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall, the first time Monk’s music was ever played by a big band. These concerts are produced by Duke Performances and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

Two generations of musicians will pay homage to Monk. On Feb. 26, Charles Tolliver and his tentet play note-for-note arrangements of Monk’s 1959 show. On Feb. 27, Jason Moran and his octet present his mixed media concert that incorporates recordings and images captured during rehearsals and arranging sessions by photographer W. Eugene Smith, who lived in the “Jazz Loft” building, where, in 1959, Monk and his tentet rehearsed for the Town Hall concert.

WNYC Radio (93.9 FM and wnyc.org) is the exclusive broadcast partner of Thelonious Monk at Town Hall.  WNYC will air a live broadcast of the Tolliver concert on Feb. 26, and will tape the Moran concert on Feb. 27 for later broadcast.  Later this year, WNYC, in partnership with the Duke Center for Documentary Studies, will broadcast a 10-part series documenting stories from the Jazz Loft, drawing on thousands of hours of material taped there, including highlights of the rehearsal sessions for the original Thelonious Monk/ Hall Overton 1959 Town Hall concert.

Details: the-townhall-nyc.org.



  • John_and_Gerald_Clayton_by_Paul_Wellman_copy.jpg

    Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.

  • Emily_Remler_-_Photo_by_Brian_McMillen_%284%29_copy_2.jpg

    “She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”

  • Deerhead_Inn_courtesy_Poconogo.com_copy.jpg

    The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.

  • Ted_Nash_Alexa_Tarantino_by_Gilberto_Tadday_copy.jpg

    As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.

  • Larry_Appelbaum_with_Wayne_Shorter_by_Ken_Kimery_from_2012_copy.jpg

    Larry Appelbaum with Wayne Shorter in 2012.


On Sale Now
April 2025
Isaiah Collier
Look Inside
Subscribe
Print | Digital | iPad