THELONIOUS MONK

Thelonious Monk was a black African-American jazz pianist and composer from the 1940s to the 1970s. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" and more. Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington. He is one of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time (the others being Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis). In 1993, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2006, he was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for "a body of distinguished and innovative musical composition that has had a significant and enduring impact on the evolution of jazz". He was also the subject of a Clint Eastwood produced documentary titled "Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser". Monk passed away in 1982 at the age of 64.