What improvisation really is? Thelonious Monk home studying I'm Getting Sentimental Over You (rare)

[@ATLS702]

I want to personally thank you for preserving this great record and testament to Thelonious Monk’s profound musicianship. I hope you know this very clip means a great deal to many students of this music. Aaron Parks brought me here. Wishing you well ❤

[@danielharris9403]

A wonderful reminder that that the practicing process is often closer to brainstorming than performing.

[@dangfd551]

Incredible! And hearing the difference between his playing on stage and what a couple of his many practice sessions at the piano could have sounded like! How he thoughtfully refined his technique to get to a place where his improvisation could flow on stage with spontaneity. Are there more home recordings of monk cooking up music in his kitchen?

[@chrisSkordPiano]

very precious material

[@thembelihledunjana]

Wow!

[@skiddoo-fr9ex]

Sounds to me more like he's making his arrangement than trying to improvise; he would have been able to blow on this tune long before these recordings were made.

[@georgemcfetridge8310]

That's right. Saying he's 'learning improvisation' is completely wrong and misleading. It's amazing how little people grasp about music! Here, he works up a presentation of the tune. He encounters a 'fill' spot on a V7 chord and goes on an excursion of conception and fingering, which is why it's good to prepare a piece in detail - it gets you working on things you might not come upon otherwise, and therefore assists musical growth in general.

[@albinoguilherme6875]

Beautiful....

[@lavontedavis3024]

I love this!!! Thank you so much !!!!

[@jpowell2868]

oh my!