Straight, No Chaser (Thelonious Monk album)

Straight, No Chaser
Studio album by Thelonious Monk
Released	1967
Recorded	1966–1967
Genre	Jazz
Length	51:24 (original LP) 75:56 (CD reissue)
Label	Columbia
Producer	Teo Macero
Thelonious Monk chronology
Misterioso (Recorded on Tour) (1965) Straight, No Chaser (1967) Underground (1968)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
DownBeat	[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[5]

Straight, No Chaser is the sixth studio album Thelonious Monk recorded for Columbia Records, released in 1967. The album was reissued on CD in 1996, including restored versions of previously abridged performances and three additional tracks.

Music and lyrics

"Japanese Folk Song" was based on Kōjō no Tsuki , a Japanese song written in the Meiji period. It can be heard in the 2016 American movie La La Land as one of the main characters tries to memorize and play it.

Track listing

All songs by Thelonious Monk unless otherwise noted

Side One

1. "Locomotive" – 6:38
2. "I Didn't Know About You" (Ellington) – 6:50
3. "Straight, No Chaser" – 10:31

Side Two

1. "Japanese Folk Song" (R. Taki)* – 11:03
2. "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (Arlen, Koehler) – 7:34
3. "We See" – 8:48

• On the original LP, the song "Kōjō no Tsuki" by Rentarō Taki was incorrectly identified as a "Japanese folk song" of unknown provenance. This has been corrected on re-issues of the album.

CD Re-issue

1. "Locomotive" – 6:40
2. "I Didn't Know About You" (Duke Ellington) – 6:52
3. "Straight, No Chaser" – 11:28
4. "Japanese Folk Song (Kōjō no Tsuki)" (Rentarō Taki) – 16:42
5. "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (Harold Arlen) – 7:36
6. "We See" – 11:37
7. "This Is My Story, This Is My Song" (Phoebe Knapp) – 1:42 (better known by the title "Blessed Assurance")
8. "I Didn't Know About You" (D. Ellington) – 6:49
9. "Green Chimneys" (Th. Monk) – 6:34

Personnel

• Thelonious Monk – piano
• Charlie Rouse – tenor sax
• Larry Gales – bass
• Ben Riley – drums

References

1. Planer, Lindsay. Straight, No Chaser at AllMusic
2. Down Beat: June 29, 1967 vol. 34, no. 13
3. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
4. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 145. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
5. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1024. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.