Thelonious Monk With his splayed-finger piano style and herky-jerky rhythms, Thelonious Monk seemed an unlikely candidate for canonization early on. He wasn’t a fire-breathing virtuoso like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie or Bud Powell, but rather an individualistic player and composer whose contributions were frequently overshadowed by his bebop brethren. But as jazz listeners’ ears became...
