Pianists grace SFJAZZ for Thelonious Monk Festival
Jazz musician Thelonious Monk. (Photo by Herb Snitzer/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO - With his songs characterized by melodic dissonance and playful rhythmic and improvisational nature, Thelonious Monk helped define the challenging, almost rebellious, nature of jazz music during the 20th century.
He remains one of the genre's most recorded composers, with "'Round Midnight" and "Straight, No Chaser" among his catalog's iconic classics. His sound, his look (fine suits, a dapper hat and sunglasses) and his popular habit during performances of getting up from the piano to dance a bit if the spirit moved him, all helped define one of jazz's indisputable stars and an icon of the last century. No surprise, SFJAZZ Center's Thelonious Monk Festival this week offers talented and distinctive artists.
On Thursday, pianist and composer John Beasley, whose angular music and nimble playing has earned him fans from Miles Davis to Steely Dan, brings his Monk'estra band to Miner Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $35-$115. On Thursday and Friday, extraordinary pianist Sullivan Fortner, known for his work with Cecile McLorin Salvant, plays four solo shows in the SFJAZZ John Henderson Lab ($30 tickets are going fast).
On Saturday, Los Angeles keyboardist Diego Gaeta presents a concert of reworked Monk classics at 7 p.m.; tickets are $25. On Sunday, Spanish composer and pianist Marta Sanchez presents her distinctive take on Monk's music at 6 and 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $25 at sfjazz.org.
Pianist John Beasley brings his Monkestra band to the SFJAZZ Center on Oct. 10 as part of the Thelonious Monk Festival. (Courtesy John Beasley)