Dayna Stephens is a tremendous saxophone player who usually stays in the traditional jazz lane. Well versed in the styles of swing and bebop his playing is powerful, yet swinging and melodic.
I originally heard his playing through his association with guitarist Julian Lang. Together, they took the seemingly traditional jazz in strange and unique directions. For example, here is Dayna with Julian in a quartet playing the third movement (“On The Trail”) of Ferde Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite:
Danya Stephen’s most recent album is a tribute to Thelonious Monk, aptly tited Monk’d. It is today’s pick!
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As a huge fan of Thelonious Monk my interest was piqued immediately. What makes it even more interesting is Danya doesn’t play saxophone on the record! He decided he wanted to understand Monk’s music from the rhythm section perspective, so he performs on upright bass instead. Unbelievably, he makes it sound like it is his main instrument.
Joining him on Monk’d is Stephen Riley (who has played with Wynton Marsalis, Nora Jones and Harry Connick, Jr.) on tenor saxophone, Eric McPhearson (known for his work with Jackie McLean) on drums and Ethan Iverson (an original member of the group The Bad Plus) on piano….and not just any piano but a piano previously played by Thelonious Monk himself!
The album focuses on lesser known (but still awesome) tunes in the vast Monk catalog. Perhaps the most famous of the songs included is the first one, “Break’s Sake” which was originally on It’s Monk’s Time:
It’s followed by the earliest of all Monk compositions “Humph”. I always liked the tempo shifts in this tune which gives it a unique, halting kind of rhythm that keeps the listener off balance. Riley plays a great solo here, Iverson is wailing on piano throughout and McPhearson gets a nice little feature too trading fours with Stephens:
The centerpiece of the album is a medley of “Just You, Just Me” (from the musical Marianne), “Evidence” (which is actually a contrafact of “Just You, Just Me” that originally appeared on Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk) and “Smoking Gun” (an original composition by Dayna Stephens) cleverly titled “Just You and Me Smoking the Evidence”:
The group takes another song from It’s Monk’s Time, “Stuffy Turkey*, and makes it their own:
They also tackle the ballad “Ruby, My Dear” which is probably the closest thing to a standard on the record. I absolutely adore this recording:
Overall Monk’d is a very fitting tribute to the legendary Thelonious Monk. Fans of his playing style and compositions should take note of this amazing album.
