PAUL JEFFREY, LEROY WILLIAMS, & JOHN ORE FEATURING JASON MORAN
A World Premiere
THELONIOUS MONK’S HOMECOMING: RALEIGH’S FROG & NIGHTGOWN, 1970
Thursday, 9/20/07, 8 pm
Reynolds Industries Theater
$26 • $20 • $5*
In a career that spanned 40 years and six continents, Monk only played a major engagement in his home state once. In May of 1970, the Rocky Mount native did a weeklong run at the Frog & Nightgown Jazz Club, on Medlin Drive in Raleigh.
Thelonious Monk’s Homecoming revisits that legendary 1970 performance. The two living band members from the Frog & Nightgown dates, Paul Jeffrey and Leroy Williams, will appear on sax and drums, respectively; John Ore, who was hired by Monk during a blizzard in 1960, will handle the bass. Piano phenomenon Jason Moran sits in Monk’s seat, inflecting the master’s line with his own jagged style.
In addition to a full-length rendition of the Frog & Nightgown setlist, Monk’s Homecoming will feature a never-before-heard recording of the shows made by Paul Jeffrey, who went on to spend 20 years running the Jazz Program at Duke— a coincidence as magical as his sax playing. A conversation with the musicians precedes the show and will include Center for Documentary Studies writer Sam Stephenson, who has conducted extensive research on the 1970 shows.
Paul Jeffrey on the web:
Leroy Williams on the web:
Jason Moran on the web:
www.myspace.com/jasonmoranonbluenote
Funded, in part, by a Visiting Artist Grant from the Council for the Arts, Office of the Provost, Duke University.