Monk's über-prolific recording career occasionally got bogged down by formula: Play the head of the tune, everyone solos, trade eights, then out. This solo piano recording, enhanced a few years ago with extra tracks (22 in all) provides a revealing glimpse of his idiosyncratic piano style — influenced by stride, it's clunky and heavy-handed, but utterly original and generally captivating. Monk mixes a few tunes from his gargantuan repertoire of originals ("Ruby, My Dear") with an array of standards ("These Foolish Things"). From ballads to bounce, this is just about as pure as Monk gets.
This article appears in May 9-15, 2007.