Why this tune?
Tunes on Tuesday marks the birthday of the great Thelonious Monk (Oct. 10) with his
lovely tune “Ask Me Now.” Monk recorded the tune in his first recordings as a leader, which were released first in 1952 on a then-new 10″ album format. He recorded other versions later on, including a solo piano take on his “Solo Monk” album in 1965. Jon Hendricks added lyrics in the 1980s, leading to some lovely vocal recordings of the song. The first one I heard was by Karrin Allyson from 1996.
Like so many of Monk’s compositions, the simple-sounding melody hides a wealth of harmonic complexity. The tune offers plenty of opportunities to play with whole tone scales, which are an important part of Monk’s language.
It’s a good reminder to myself to play more Monk!
Tunes On Tuesday Reel
Check it out!
Complete track
Monk plays
Karrin Allyson
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 