[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15740]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF THELONIOUS MONK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of the 
most innovative jazz musicians of all time, the legendary Thelonious 
Monk.
  This legend, Mr. Speaker, was born in my congressional district in 
the State of North Carolina, and would have turned 100 years old today.
  Thelonious Sphere Monk was the second of three children born to 
Thelonious, Sr., and Barbara Monk on October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, 
North Carolina. Though Monk and his family left Rocky Mount for New 
York City when Thelonious was a child, scholars and fellow musicians 
say Monk's North Carolina roots had an important influence on the man 
and his music.
  Writer Sam Stephenson credited Thelonious Monk's Carolina roots in 
the ``Oxford American,'' writing that Rocky Mount's flourishing tobacco 
culture and rail yard was one of the largest in all of the South the 
year Monk was born. Stephenson speculated those railways may have 
inspired Monk's composition ``Little Rootie Tootie,'' which features 
train whistle sounds.
  Mr. Speaker, incidentally, the city of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, 
is divided between two counties, Nash County and Edgecombe County. The 
railroad in that community is the dividing line.
  Every day, the CSX and Amtrak trains come through that community. 
They have been doing that for a very long time. Those train tracks were 
first established in 1855, even before the Civil War. It was 
established as the Wilmington to Weldon Railroad. It was the longest 
railroad in the entire world, consisting of more than 160 miles of 
track. It came through Mr. Monk's hometown.
  Thelonious Monk began studying classical piano at the age of 11 and 
showed an early aptitude for the instrument. By the time he was 13 
years old, he had won the weekly amateur competition at the Apollo 
Theater so many times that management banned him from reentering the 
contest there in Harlem.
  In 1941, Monk began working at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, where he 
joined the house band and helped develop the school of jazz known as 
bebop.
  Alongside fellow jazz greats Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Eubie 
Blake, and Ruble Blakey, Monk honed his fast and often improvised style 
that would later become synonymous with modern jazz.
  Thelonious Monk's first known recording was made in 1944, when he 
worked as a member of the Coleman Hawkins Quartet. Monk did not record 
under his own name, however, until 1947, when he played as the leader 
of a sextet session for Blue Note.
  In 1947, he married Nellie Smith, his longtime sweetheart. Two 
children were born to the marriage, whom they named after Monk's 
parents, Thelonious and Barbara.
  In 1952, Monk signed a contract with Prestige Records, which produced 
pieces like ``Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'' and ``Bags' Groove,'' which he 
recorded with Miles Davis in 1954. In 1956, Mr. Speaker, Monk released 
his third album, ``Brilliant Corners,'' which is considered by many to 
be his first true masterpiece.
  In 1957, the Thelonious Monk Quartet, which included John Coltrane, 
began performing regularly, with tours across the United States and 
Europe.
  By 1964, Monk was popular with the mainstream audience and became one 
of the four jazz musicians ever to grace the cover of Time magazine.
  The years that followed included several overseas tours, but by the 
early 1970s, Monk was ready to give it up. He was ready to retire from 
the limelight. After battling illnesses for several years, Monk passed 
away from a stroke in 1982.
  Finally, Thelonious Monk, Mr. Speaker, has since been inducted into 
the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame, 
added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry, awarded 
a Pulitzer Prize, and featured on a United States postage stamp.
  Thelonious Monk left a legacy as one of the originators of modern 
jazz music. That is why the city of Rocky Mount is so proud of their 
native son. They celebrated this past weekend in various places 
throughout the city honoring and celebrating the life of this great 
musician.
  I ask my colleagues to join me today in paying tribute to an 
outstanding artist, Thelonious Monk, as his family; the residents of 
Rocky Mount, North Carolina; and the country prepare to celebrate his 
100th birthday.

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