"I dont know where its going. Maybe its going to hell. You cant make anything go anywhere. It just happens."
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". As of 2009, Monk was the second-most-recorded jazz composer in history, after Duke Ellington.
"It reminded me of , and thats got to be good. Rhythm section has the right groove, too. Drummer made me think of . Hey, play that again. (Later.) Yeah! He sounds like a piano player! (Hums theme.) You can keep changing keys all the time doing that. Sounds like something that was studied and figured out. And he can play it; you know whats happening with this one. Yeah, he was on a Bobby Timmons kick. He knows whats happening."
"The piano aint got no wrong notes."
"Monk enters the studio and starts playing, the rest of the musicians join him. After few minutes of play the technician from his room shouts and stops the band.] Monk: Why did we stop? Technician: I thought you were rehearsing. Monk: Arent we always?"
"All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians."
"I know this from somewhere—it seems as though every time I turn on the radio this seems to slip in; and Ive always liked it. Its cute, real cute; and although its sort of not in my department and I dont know too much about that type of music, I like it an awful lot. Wonderful piano ..."
"Which is the way to the toilet?"