Thelonious Monk Monk's Dream

The historical import, musical genius, and timeless artistry of Monk's Dream can be best appreciated by first placing the record in the context of it's era. In short, Thelonious Monk's joyful Columbia Records debut triggered a domino effect of mainstream attention, best-selling success, and unstinting respect that led him to become one of only six jazz musicians to ever grace the cover of Time-then America's most widely read weekly magazine. Couple the extraordinary feat with the fact the British Invasion and Beatlemania were already in full swing, and the cultural significance of Monk's Dream skyrockets to near-unthinkable heights. Now it features sound to match.Strictly limited to 6,000 numbered copies and pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's ultra-hi-fi UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set strips away any lingering audio limitations to provide a clear, transparent, and up-close view of a work that inspired DownBeat to proclaim it 'a stunning reaffirmation of [Monk's] powers as a performer and composer.' Such potency reveals itself as all the more obvious on an analog edition that affords full-range reproduction of the multi-layered complexities, challenging tonalities, and nontraditional rhythms that encourage constant exploration. In addition to capturing the wide-bandwidth frequency response and inner cavity of Monk's piano, the set conveys the presence, tones, and contributions of his support trio with lifelike realism. Forever encouraging repeat listening, Monk's Dream buzzes with the energy of a city celebrating it's internal commotion and dancing to the influences that made it's current modernism possible.