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Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall

This was one of the most exciting discoveries of recent years: a live concert with Monk's group during the period that Coltrane was a member. It has one of the best renditions of "Monk's Mood," one of my favorite melodies in the universe. As usual with Monk it is mostly his own compositions, along with "Sweet and Lovely," one of the standards he played most often.

I never felt the quartets with Rouse could really compare to Monk's groups with Coltrane or Rollins. I like Rouse fine, but there's a difference when Monk was paired with a musical equal.