An unusual live recording by Thelonious Monk – one recorded at the tail end of his famous quartet years on Columbia, but which features him leading an expanded nine-piece group for the date! Usual group members Charlie Rouse (tenor), Larry Gales (bass), and Ben Riley (drums) are expanded by the addition of Ray Copeland on trumpet, Johnny Griffin on tenor, Jimmy Cleveland on trombone, and Phil Woods on alto – all of whom join together in some nice angular readings of Monk classics that include "Epistrophy", "Evidence", "Blue Monk", and "Oska T". CD

Randy plays beautifully on a set of blues-inspired tracks arranged by Melba Liston – working with horn players that include Teddy Edwards, Benny Powell, Wallace Roney, and Hamiet Bluiett to come up with some really striking tunes that differ greatly from a lot of his other classic work! Johnny Copeland makes an unfortunate appearance on vocals and guitar on the first track – but once you get past that number and its cliched approach to blues, the CD's a great one. (And heck, we'll be honest – we start this album on track 2!) Titles include "Sad Beauty Blues", "Chalabati Blues", "In Memory Of", "Harvard Blues", "Volcano", and "The Nafs". CD

20 songs from Larry Davis, Johnny Copeland, Lowell Fulson, T-Bone Walker, BB King, Jimmy Nelson, Ray Charles, Saunders King, Jimmy Witherspoon, Mari Jones & more. CD