Thelonious Monk – Palo Alto

Palo Alto is a previously unknown + unreleased live Thelonious Monk recording.

After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 , racial tensions across

the country rose. Palo Alto, a largely white college town in California, was not

immune to the events of the day. Danny Scher , a rising junior at Palo Alto High

School, had a dream to bring Thelonious Monk to Palo Alto to perform and help

bring about racial unity in his community as well as raise funds for his school’s

International Committee.

After somehow securing Monk’s services to perform on Sunday, October

27, Scher initially had trouble selling tickets and convincing people that Monk was

even going to show up.

With many twists and turns along the way and several hundred people waiting in

the school’s parking lot to await Monk’s arrival before purchasing tickets, the concert

eventually happened and was a triumph in more ways that Monk or Scher could

have imagined. This is a recording of that historic concert.

The band is Thelonious Monk piano / Charlie Rouse tenor saxophone / Larry

Gales bass / Ben Riley drums.