Label: Rhythm-A-Ning

Released 4/24/2026

A Newly Unearthed and Fully Restored Recording of Thelonious Monk's 1967 Paris Concert - Long Considered One of the Most Elusive Performances of his European Tour. This marks the first official release from the Monk Estate. Monk Live in Paris, 1967 Volume One will be Available on 180-Gram Vinyl on April 24, 2026, via the Thelonious Monk Estate's Rhythm-A-Ning Entertainmen. Captured at the Height of Monk's Creative Powers, this Historic Performance Showcases the Pianist and Composer with His Classic Quartet: Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), Larry Gales (bass), and Ben Riley (drums). For its first 70 years, the profound art of jazz made originality, singularity and unrestricted vision prime requisites of its expression – not just in musicality, but also in personality, image, style and demeanor. The unparalleled composer/pianist/visionary Thelonious Sphere Monk epitomized every aspect of this in exponential form. As a result, he occupies a unique position in the Jazz Pantheon. Every aspect of this extraordinary man epitomizes jazz expression at its most compelling level. His visual presence – his headwear, his glasses, his sartorial style – matched with his remarkably profound verbal statements, the way he danced around the piano during other musicians' solos; and even more importantly, his brilliant compositions that are both starkly angular, yet gorgeously lyrical, and matched by his piano playing which made dissonance and fractured rhythms so utterly delightful, make Thelonious Monk stand out dynamically even amidst his other transcendent peers. Capitalizing on all of this, the Monk Estate is launching a comprehensive plan to launch a new ongoing series of archival recordings under its authorized control of material that has been circulated for years as bootlegs – and is doing so with clever brand marketing that will further express the legendary presence and spirit of this singular iconoclast.

Track listing:

1. Artist Introduction
   
2. Epistrophy
   
3. Evidence
   
4. Ruby My Dear
   
5. We See