Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1 is the name given to at least four different compilation albums by jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 pianist

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...

. Each version comprises some of Monk's first recordings as band leader

Thelonious Monk Blue Note Sessions

Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk's first sessions as a bandleader were recorded between 1947 and 1952, and released on Blue Note records as a series of 78 RPM singles. These singles were then compiled in later years--with additional performances from the sessions--into long-playing album formats...

 for Blue Note

Blue note

In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...

, recorded in 1947 (and sometimes 1948). The original LP with this title was compiled in 1951.

Two different CD compilations have been given this title. Both redistribute the material from the two volumes in a very different order. The individual volumes of both CD compilations omit a July 2, 1948 session featuring "Evidence," "Misterioso," "Epistrophy," "I Mean You," "All The Things You Are," and "I Should Care", which were released on a Milt Jackson compilation

Wizard of the Vibes

Wizard of the Vibes is a Blue Note Records compilation of performances by jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson. The sessions were the work of The Thelonious Monk Quintet and The Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson...

 instead. A "monochrome cover" 2-CD set called "The Complete Genius" follows the track order of the original monochrome CDs, but adds all 10 released Blue Note performances of these missing 6 titles between the contents of "Volume 1" and "Volume 2."

Track listing of Blue Note LP 5002 (10" 8 song LP, compiled 1951)

Side 1:

1. 'Round Midnight
   'Round Midnight (song)
   Round Midnight" is a 1944 jazz standard by pianist Thelonious Monk. Jazz artists Cootie Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Pepper, and Miles Davis have further embellished the song, with songwriter Bernie Hanighen adding lyrics...
   
    (as "Round About Midnight")
2. Off Minor
3. Ruby my Dear
   Ruby my Dear
   "Ruby, My Dear" is a jazz ballad composed by Thelonious Monk.The tune was named after Rubie Richardson, Monk's first love and his older sister Marion's best friend. It was first recorded at a 1947 session for Blue Note Records...
   
   
4. I Mean You

Side 2:

1. Thelonious
2. Epistrophy
3. Well You Needn't
   Well You Needn't
   "Well, You Needn't" is a jazz standard composed by Thelonious Monk in 1944. According to Robin D.G. Kelley in his seminal biography "Thelonious Monk: the Life and Times of an American Original" the title was inspired by a protegé of Monk's, the jazz singer Charlie Beamon; Monk wrote a song and told...
   
   
4. Misterioso

Track listing of Blue Note BLP-1510 (12" 12-song LP, monochrome yellow cover, compiled 1956)

Side 1:

1. 'Round Midnight
   'Round Midnight (song)
   Round Midnight" is a 1944 jazz standard by pianist Thelonious Monk. Jazz artists Cootie Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Pepper, and Miles Davis have further embellished the song, with songwriter Bernie Hanighen adding lyrics...
   
    (as "Round About Midnight")
2. Off Minor
3. Ruby my Dear
   Ruby my Dear
   "Ruby, My Dear" is a jazz ballad composed by Thelonious Monk.The tune was named after Rubie Richardson, Monk's first love and his older sister Marion's best friend. It was first recorded at a 1947 session for Blue Note Records...
   
   
4. I Mean You
5. April In Paris
   April in Paris (song)
   "April in Paris" is a song composed by Vernon Duke with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg in 1932 for the Broadway musical, Walk A Little Faster. The original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin, and the 1952 remake was by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, whose version made the Cashbox Top 50.Composer Alec...
   
   
6. In Walked Bud
   In Walked Bud
   "In Walked Bud" is a 1947 jazz composition by Thelonious Monk. It was based on the chord progression of an earlier standard, Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" . The song was a tribute to jazz pianist Bud Powell....
   
   

Side 2:

1. Thelonious
2. Epistrophy
3. Misterioso
4. Well You Needn't
   Well You Needn't
   "Well, You Needn't" is a jazz standard composed by Thelonious Monk in 1944. According to Robin D.G. Kelley in his seminal biography "Thelonious Monk: the Life and Times of an American Original" the title was inspired by a protegé of Monk's, the jazz singer Charlie Beamon; Monk wrote a song and told...
   
   
5. Introspection
6. Humph

Track listing of earlier "yellow monochrome" cover CD, compiled circa 1989

1. Humph
2. Evonce (alternate take)
3. Evonce
4. Suburban Eyes
5. Suburban Eyes (alternate take)
6. Thelonious
7. Nice Work If You Can Get It (alternate take)
8. Nice Work If You Can Get It
9. Ruby My Dear (alternate take)
10. Ruby My Dear
11. Well You Needn't
12. Well You Needn't (alternate take)
13. April In Paris (alternate take)
14. April In Paris
15. Off Minor
16. Introspection
17. In Walked Bud
    In Walked Bud
    "In Walked Bud" is a 1947 jazz composition by Thelonious Monk. It was based on the chord progression of an earlier standard, Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" . The song was a tribute to jazz pianist Bud Powell....
    
    
18. Monk's Mood
19. Who Knows
20. 'Round Midnight
21. Who Knows (alternate take)

1-6 recorded Oct 15, 1947

7-16 recorded Oct 24 1947

17-21 recorded Nov 21, 1947

Re-issue

The sessions were recompiled, under the same title, on CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 in 2001 as part of the RVG

Rudy Van Gelder

Rudy Van Gelder is an American recording engineer specializing in jazz.Often regarded as one of the most important recording engineers in music history, Van Gelder has recorded several thousand jazz sessions, including many widely recognized as classics, in a career spanning more than half a century...

 series. The cover art for the original 8-song LP was used. While the earlier CD grouped all takes of each title together, the recompilation put the alternate takes at the end of each session.

The July 2, 1948 session featuring "Evidence," "Misterioso," "Epistrophy," "I Mean You," "All The Things You Are," and "I Should Care" was released on Blue Note CD Milt Jackson: Wizard of the Vibes

Wizard of the Vibes

Wizard of the Vibes is a Blue Note Records compilation of performances by jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson. The sessions were the work of The Thelonious Monk Quintet and The Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson...

.

Re-issue track listing, compiled 2001

1. Humph
2. Evonce
3. Suburban Eyes
4. Thelonious
5. Evonce (alternate take)
6. Suburban Eyes (alternate take)
7. Nice Work If You Can Get It
   Nice Work If You Can Get It (song)
   "Nice Work If You Can Get It" is a popular song.The music was written by George Gershwin, the lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was one of nine songs George Gershwin wrote for the movie A Damsel in Distress, in which it was performed by Fred Astaire with backing vocals provided by The Stafford Sisters...
   
   
8. Ruby My Dear
9. Well You Needn't
10. April In Paris
11. Off Minor
12. Introspection
13. Nice Work If You Can Get It (alternate take)
14. Ruby My Dear (alternate take)
15. Well You Needn't (alternate take)
16. April In Paris (alternate take)
17. In Walked Bud
    In Walked Bud
    "In Walked Bud" is a 1947 jazz composition by Thelonious Monk. It was based on the chord progression of an earlier standard, Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" . The song was a tribute to jazz pianist Bud Powell....
    
    
18. Monk's Mood
19. Who Knows?
20. 'Round Midnight
21. Who Knows? (alternate take)

1-6 recorded Oct 15, 1947

7-16 recorded Oct 24 1947

17-21 recorded Nov 21, 1947

Credits

• Thelonious Monk - piano
• Art Blakey
  Art Blakey
  Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
  
   - drums
• Idrees Sulieman
  Idrees Sulieman
  Idrees Sulieman was a bop and hard bop trumpeter. He studied at Boston Conservatory, and gained early experience playing with the Carolina Cotton Pickers and the wartime Earl Hines Orchestra...
  
   - trumpet (tracks 1 - 6)
• Danny Quebec West - alto saxophone (tracks 1 - 6)
• Billy Smith - tenor saxophone (tracks 1 - 6)
• Gene Ramey
  Gene Ramey
  Gene Ramey was an American jazz double bassist.Ramey was born in Austin, Texas, and played trumpet in college, but switched to sousaphone when playing with George Corley's Royal Aces, The Moonlight Serenaders, and Terrence Holder. In 1932 he moved to Kansas City and took up the bass, studying with...
  
   - bass (tracks 1 - 16)
• George Taitt - trumpet (tracks 17 - 21)
• Sahib Shihab
  Sahib Shihab
  Sahib Shihab was an American jazz saxophonist and flautist.-Biography:...
  
  - alto saxophone (tracks 17 - 21)
• Bob Paige - bass (tracks 17 - 21)

External links

• Album's page on Blue Note website