Thelonious Monk’s lost Les liaisons dangereuses soundtrack released on vinyl

A forgotten album from the jazz maestro.

Recorded in 1959 but never used, Thelonious Monk’s lost soundtrack to French film Les liaisons dangereuses is finally getting a release for Record Store Day 2017.

Featuring fellow hard bop luminaries Sam Jones on bass, drummer Art Taylor, and tenor saxophonists Charlie Rouse and Barney Wilen, playing through a selection of Monk’s own standards like ‘Crepuscule with Nellie’ and ‘Pannonica’, the soundtrack has been pressed to a double LP box set and includes a booklet with essays and never-before-seen photographs.

While Monk composed and performed a large chunk of the score, it was the party scene soundtracked by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, that was originally and most famously released in 1960.

You can hear an excerpt from Monk’s soundtrack, ‘Rhythm-a-Ning,’ here and find the tracklist and artwork below.

Thelonious Monk’s will be released via Sam Records / Saga on Record Store Day on Saturday 22nd April. See the full list of special releases here.

LP1:

02. Crepuscule with Nellie

03. Six in One

04. Well, You Needn’t

05. Pannonica (solo)

06. Pannonica (solo)

07. Pannonica (Quartet)

08. Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are

09. Light Blue

10. We’ll Understand It Better By and By

LP2:

02. Crepuscule with Nellie

03. Pannonica

04. Light Blue

05. Well, You Needn’t (unedited)

06. Light Blue (Making Of)

Photo: Wikipedia