Round and Round About Midnight

The history of jazz is filled with unique individuals. Possibly no one was more unique than Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982).  His personality and his music were like no other.  According to his biography on allaboutjazz.com, "With the arrival of Thelonious Sphere Monk, modern music-let alone modern culture-simply hasn't been the same."  Monk was a contemporary of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and along with them, was often credited as a founder of be-bop.  Monk's style, however, was quite different from Parker's and Gillespie's.  Where they blew fast and furious, Monk's style was spare and economical.  He utilized syncopation even more than most jazz musicians; one reviewer described his playing as angular.  Monk has also been considered one of the great jazz composers.  Although many of his songs have become jazz standards, his "'Round Midnight" is probably the most recorded jazz composition ever.

Monk first wrote the song in the late 1930s or early '40s.  In 1944 Cootie Williams and his orchestra recorded a somewhat modified version of the song.  How much Williams modified the song is anybody's guess, but he was given a share of the copyright.  A few years later Bernie Hanighen added lyrics and his name is also listed as co-composer.  Although given no official credit, Dizzy Gillespie added an introduction and cadenza in 1947 and these have been included in most subsequent recordings.

Monk would record 'Round Midnight numerous times over the years.  The first video that follows is an early version, a 1947 small-group recording for Riverside.  The second video is solo Monk recorded in 1969. The video quality is not the best, but the audio allows you to experience some pure Monk piano.  So many Monk recordings are available that it hard to know where to start.  This recording of his early work with Blue Note is probably as good a place as any.





I first became aware of the song when I purchased the lp, Miles Davis' Greatest Hits, while I was in high school.  This version, based on Gillespie's variation, and showcasing John Coltrane as well as Davis, remains one of the standard versions.  Personally, Davis' muted trumpet intro and Coltrane's solo never get old.
















Two strikingly different vocal versions of 'Round Midnight appear in the next two videos.  The first is Julie London with full orchestration from 1960.  Ella Fitzgerald then appears in a live recording with the Oscar Peterson Trio in 1961.






"Round Midnight hasn't gone out of fashion.  In the 1980's Linda Ronstadt used it as the title song in one of the three albums of standards that she made with Nelson Riddle.



Also during that decade a movie named after the song was released to critical acclaim.  One of the stars of the movie was tenor man, Dexter Gordon, whose version appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack album.














Last, and maybe least, in my opinion anyway, is a recent version by Amy Winehouse, British bad girl and neo-soul singer.