Blog 4: Thelonious Monk

          The community Thelonious Monk grew up in was extremely diverse. He spent his early childhood in a poor, racially conflicted area of New York called San Juan Hill. San Juan Hill was a landmark military victory for the United States in the Spanish-American War where several black Calvary had played a pivotal role in winning the battle. However, the name for the neighborhood was more representative of the common, violent race riots. As Monk alludes to in his quote on page 19, each neighborhood was composed primarily of one ethnic group who was often xenophobic, racist, and overprotective of their turf. Like most blacks in his community, as a child Monk was often forced into fights. Frequently, the police were against Monk's ethnic group and would favor the Irish and Italians in any kind of dispute (Kelley 16-20). These living conditions made Monk tough. He learned to never back down. As Rouse observed, "If [Monk] thinks he's right, he sticks by what he thinks." When he was arrested for no reason in Delaware in 1958, Monk fought back against multiple police officers - even while handcuffed (Kelley 254).

            Although Monk would never back down from a fight when he was in the right, he never went looking for one either, nor did he succumb to provocation. Mostly he would just let racial jests and hurtful comments go, and instead he would respond in a diffusing manner as we see him doing in the quote on page 417. In fact, Thelonious Monk embraced diversity and welcomed people from all backgrounds. In the middle part of his life, one of his greatest friends and allies was Nica - a rich, white baroness. Around the age of 10, Monk moved to one of the Phipps Houses where he absorbed Caribbean music and culture. Furthermore, Monk's first piano teacher was an Austrian-born Jew who taught Monk classical music. The Columbus Hill Neighborhood Center, "a true center of social life for black youth in the neighborhood," and the church became Monk's second home and allowed him to learn and develop more than just his musical abilities with other African-American youths (Kelley 23-29).  These influences profoundly affected Monk's musical style. One can hear elements of each influence in Monk's music. These elements range from the African attacking style, to the Caribbean rhythms in compositions such as "Bye-ya" and "Bemsha Swing," to the discipline and skill derived from rigorous classical training, to the unique dissonance born out of Thelonious' struggle to deal with the unfair and racist world he found himself living in.

            Monk's music fostered an amazing, diverse, Bohemian community - especially in light of the severe racial tensions present in New York at the time. The Five Spot became an important home to Monk. Before he started playing there, the patronage was mostly white males. However, Monk's listeners came from all races, ages, and social statuses. He managed to "turn the Five Spot into the hippest monastery in the Western world" (Kelley 239). Monk's music was the epitome of modernity, and it "embodied the beauty of dissonance" (Lecture 2/28). Famous modern writers and artists like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Willem de Kooning, and Joan Mitchell were often in attendance - sharing their ideas and gaining inspiration from each other and Monk's music (Kelley 227). Although he had some set-backs over the course of his live, overall, Monk did an excellent job coping with extreme prejudice, standing his ground, and producing an art form that brought people together instead of tearing them apart.