condition (record/cover): NM / NM

Gatefold sleeve.

The Columbia-years selection: "Round Midnight", "Straight No Chaser", "Ruby My Dear" and more, all in the classic Charlie Rouse quartet versions from Thelonious Monk's sixties prime. Greatest-hits compilations are usually where collectors' eyes glaze over, but Monk is a special case - the man essentially wrote the most distinctive songbook in modern jazz, and hearing its pillars gathered in one place has its own real pleasure. As an introduction it does the job with style; as a Sunday-afternoon spin for people who own everything already, it works just as well. Japanese CBS/Sony pressing, clean and punchy.