Monk

Having missed out on a weekend of films due to a number of factors including a heavy workload last week and simply having a lot on my plate outside work too at the moment, when I finally made it to the box office to chose a film to see, all but the dozen least appealing films of the festival were fully sold out.

So, to raise my spirits a bit, I parted with a little of my money for a Thelonius Monk DVD. I admit that Monk's not to everyone's taste, but I've been a big fan for a while. (Dad, there's the CD of Live at the It Club tucked away in my collection at home if you're interested.) It gives a new dimension to his music to hear him speak (a man of scarce few words) and dance around the stage in his inimicable fashion, at the exciting pinnacle of the jazz era.

For some reason his playing reminds me too of one of the other little-appreciated geniuses of piano music who never fails to inspire me, Béla Bartók. His 3 Piano Concertos are, to my mind, magnificent in their rhythms and complexity and energy - though a lot of people can't seem to get over the lack of hummable tunes in his work.

Maybe that's why Monk and Coltrane went so well together: the lyrical saxophonist and the thoughtful, rhythmic piano player. Must put him on again tonight and jive along...