Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer who was 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” and “Well, You Needn’t.” His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are impossible to separate from Monk’s unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations.

While the editors of FDM are not big Jazz fans, but since we featured a seminal blues guitarist yesterday, we feel it only fair to feature a jazz original today. And as is usually the case with famous dead black mormons, it appears that none of his family has been saved. One has to assume that it’s ok to let a few famous black people into the Celestial Kingdom, as long as you don’t get carried away.

Thelonious Sphere Monk
Male

Event(s):
Birth:
10 OCT 1917 Rocky Mount, , , North Carolina
Christening:
Death:
17 FEB 1982
Burial:

LDS Ordinances:
Baptism:
18 NOV 1992 PROVO
Endowment:
24 NOV 1992 PROVO