Thelonious Monk Quotes

The first jazz pianist I heard was Thelonious Monk. My father was listening to an album of his called 'Monk's Dream' almost…

— Benny Green

I have tons of jazz records: John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis. I could go on and on.

— Ted King

Rock & roll fan that I am, Thelonious Monk is probably my favorite musical artist.

— Robert Christgau

I like Thelonious Monk, he's so gnarled, he's like a piece of machinery that's pulled up the bolts on the floor and…

— Tom Waits

There is no kind of music I don't listen to. Everything good is interesting. I am as happy with a Bach fugue…

— Maira Kalman

[Winning the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition]definitely opened some doors.

— Jon Gordon

When I came out of the conservatory, the first thing I did was to go see Thelonious Monk.

— Cecil Taylor

I went through the whole number, you know. The swing era, the boogie woogie era, the bebop era. Thelonious Monk is still…

— Mose Allison

“I never presume to give advice on writing. I think the best way to learn to write is to read books and…

— Maureen Dowd

This [Thelonious Monk: The Life And Times Of An American Original] is another one of those books with the perfect blend of…

— Scott McClanahan

I believe, from reading biographies, that the great musicians have also been great cooks: Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach.…

— Jamie Cullum

He [Thelonious Monk] played each note as though astonished by the previous one, as though every touch of his fingers on the…

— Geoff Dyer

“Charles Simic, when asked what he thought of Slam Poetry events: "They are fun, but they have as much to do with…

— Charles Simic

I was [ on Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition] with Ralph Bowen, and Joel Frahm, Jimmy Greene, John Ellis. You can't play…

— Jon Gordon

The more original something is, the more of a threat it seems until the people catch up with it. That happened with…

— Steve Lacy

Jazz music and, more specifically, jazz musicians, are my artistic heroes. I want to be the Thelonious Monk of acting. He had…

— Trevor St. John

At first I didn't understand what [Thelonious Monk] was doing, but I went back again, and what I can say about Monk…

— Randy Weston

I got into music when I was a little boy. My dad was always into jazz. I got my education from him.…

— Ted King

Bop began with Jazz but one afternoon somewhere on a sidewalk maybe 1939, 1940, Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker or Thelonious Monk…

— Jack Kerouac

There was a lot that was tricky about playing with [Thelonious Monk]. It's a musical language where there's really no lyrics. It's…

— Roy Haynes

“The thing in jazz that will get Bix Beiderbecke out of his bed at two o’clock in the morning, pick that cornet…

— Wynton Marsalis

“A man is like a two-story house. The first floor is equipped with an entrance and a living room. On the second…

— Haruki Murakami

“Outside of the dreary rubbish that is churned out by god knows how many hacks of varying degrees of talent, the novel…

— Gilbert Sorrentino

I listened to King Oliver and I listened to Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp...…

— Eric Clapton

[Thelonious] Monk is a subject in itself. I mean, most piano players in most big bands sit down and they play with…

— Ray Brown

I'm very gratified that I had my little 15 minutes,or whatever [at the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition]. It certainly didn't make…

— Jon Gordon

Ornette Coleman is doing the only really new thing in jazz since the innovations in the mid-forties of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker,…

— John Lewis

I love Thelonious Monk's song "Just a Gigolo." It's probably a minor song for him, but whenever I hear a recording of…

— Glenn Ligon

My dad was into jazz, so there was a lot of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington playing in the house, but also…

— Arlo Parks

In high school I was a jazz nerd, listened to a lot of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk and stuff like that.…

— Bill Orcutt

I got a chance to listen to and watch Thelonious Monk and his quartet play two shows a night, for six weeks.…

— Chick Corea