Miles Okazaki plays "In Walked Bud" (Thelonious Monk)

The music of Thelonious Monk has stood as both a perpetual challenge and a bedrock inspiration in modern jazz. For guitarist Miles Okazaki, it also represents a world unto itself, and a source of endless fascination. In 2018, to commemorate Monk’s centennial, Okazaki recorded every single documented composition in his songbook — alone in his Brooklyn apartment, with a Gibson Charlie Christian archtop guitar, a Fender Twin amplifier, and no pedal effects. The resulting album, WORK (Complete, Volumes 1 - 6), was received with due acclaim. (At the time, I hailed it as “the six-string equivalent of a free solo climb up El Capitan.”) He is now preparing something perhaps even more imposing: a full performance of Monk’s complete oeuvre, over four sets at The Jazz Gallery in New York on Oct. 16 and 18. The results will be documented with a concert film. And prior to that feat, Okazaki will play a 90-minute concert at Solar Myth in Philadelphia, fitting in as much material as he can. Okazaki recently connected with WRTI from his apartment, talking about challenges of translation, fresh discoveries in the Monk canon, and how he has been preparing as if for a marathon. (He’s also literally preparing for a marathon.) Because we were talking on Bud Powell’s centennial, he also obliged with a full performance of “In Walked Bud.” -- NATE CHINEN Read the full interview with WRTI's Nate Chinen here: https://www.wrti.org/arts-desk/2024-1... Follow WRTI:   / wrtimusic     / wrtimusic      / wrtimusic