ANNOUNCER: Paris, 1969.
Thelonious Monk on the road.
HENRI RENAUD: Thelonious, why did you put your piano in your kitchen?
Thelonious... Thelonious, your music... ...avant-garde.
MONK: You asked me about the first time I came to France.
RENAUD: No, no, no, no, no.
MONK: It's no secrets, is it?
- No, but it's not nice.
- It's not nice?
- Yeah.
ANNOUNCER: The striking portrait of an American jazz master.
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ANNOUNCER: Funding for Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the MacArthur Foundation.
RENAUD (speaking French): (speech fading out) (breathing slowly) (jet engines rumbling in distance) WOMAN (on intercom): ...681, flight number 47.
- (talking softly) MAN: About ten others, just scanned everybody and then everybody just kept walking right through.
MONK: Nobody there got inspired by the K-Man.
- No.
(Monk laughs) You mean that, going to America?
- No, we were coming in right here.
- Oh.
- There only was one guy... MONK: Coming back.
- ...who was checking the airline crew.
He was way down at the other end.
Everybody else was standing around.
You know, it's a lot like that in the United States... - Oh, and the day that happens, brother...
There's a big... - And what'd you say, man, when'd you say it happens?
NELLIE MONK: No, it's okay... - They're not on site, they can't get on, go on site, can they?
NELLIE: No, of course not.
(Nellie speaking softly, car rumbling) (car horn beeps) (traffic humming, horns beeping) (people talking in background) (mumbling) Where do we go?
Um, um... RENAUD: I'm waiting for you... (Monk speaking indistinctly, speech fading) WOMAN (speaking French): MONK: Merci beaucoup.
(woman laughs) (people talking in background) WOMAN and MAN (speaking French): (people talking in background) (glasses clattering, water running) (background conversations continue) (glasses clattering) (engine revving in distance) (people talking in background) (glasses clattering) (people talking in background) You like those hard-boiled eggs, don't you?
- Yeah, I wish they did this at home.
'Cause they don't have them there.
- You get 'em... (softly) - Yeah, but they don't have them at, uh... You know, if you go into a bar at home, they don't have them like this.
- Oh, yeah.
(woman speaking softly) - I had, uh, two this morning, already.
(glasses clinking) (clicks tongue) (whistles softly) MONK: Good puppy.
- (murmurs in French): (people talking in background, laughing) MAN (speaking French): (door closes) WOMAN (speaking French): (reference tone humming) (traffic humming) - (murmuring) - (chuckles) (engines revving) (traffic humming) (playing slow tune) (people talking in background) (piece continues) (talking in background) MAN (speaking French): MAN 2 (speaking French): (piece continues) MAN: MAN 2: (piece continues) (piece continues) (people talking in background) (piece continues) (piece continues) (people murmuring, camera shutters clicking) (piece ends) (plays chord) (repeats chord) (playing slow tune) (piece continues) (pauses) (resumes playing) (piece continues) (piece continues) (people talking in background) (static hissing softly) (reference tones playing) RENAUD: "Crepuscule for Nellie."
I'll ask you about the title of this tune.
(microphones adjusting, people talking in background) (Monk sniffs) (people talking in background) (people talking in background) RENAUD: So you don't like to say anything about Nellie?
- A few things, I mean... (Monk and Renaud mumbling) - Do it your way.
- Okay.
(microphone shifting) (object drops) So we start with "Crepuscule."
I ask you about the title, okay?
And you'll say... "What is the titles of this tune?"
And you'll say, "Crepuscule With Nellie."
- Mm.
(microphone shifts) (microphone shifting, people talking in background) RENAUD (speaking French): MAN (speaking French): Thelonious, what the title of this last tune, please?
- (stammering): "Crep..." "Crepuscule With Nellie."
- "Crepuscule with Nellie."
Nellie is your wife.
- Right.
- And... She told me once you were born in the same district.
(speaking French) Can you say something about that?
- Um... All I'm gonna say is she's my wife.
(chuckles) And mother of my kids.
RENAUD: MAN (speaking French): (reference tone beeps) RENAUD: Thelonious, can you say something about Nellie?
- She's my, my wife and the mother of my kids.
That's all I can say.
RENAUD (speaking French): (speech fades out) ♪ ♪ (Renaud continues indistinctly under piano piece) ♪ ♪ RENAUD (speaking French): (Renaud's full volume resumes) - (murmuring) Where do we go?
RENAUD: I'm waiting for you.
MAN: Listen, why don't I call Simone?
- Yeah?
- I'll run up right away, get the 05:00 one.
- Uh... - 5:00 flight to New York.
- Yeah, maybe if you go in, though, you go on, and that's where we are.
- Yeah.
- So I'll wait for you, you got that?
- Yeah.
- So you'll call us, yeah?
(people talking in background) (playing slow tune) (piece continues) (chair creaking) RENAUD (speaking French): (papers shifting) Um... And your piano in your kitchen.
- (chuckling): Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- (mumbling) You don't like to say something about that?
- Oh, it's nothing.
- Oh, it's beautiful.
No?
- I don't mind.
- No?
(speaking French): (in English): Thelonious.
Why did you put your piano in your kitchen?
- Because that was the largest room in the apartment.
- (speaking French): (microphone humming) (reference tone playing) ♪ ♪ (playing upbeat tune) (reference tone playing) Thelonious, why did you put your grand piano in your kitchen?
(chuckling): Because it was the largest room.
That's the only... That's the only room that the, the Baldwin grand would, would, uh, could get into.
- Yes?
- All the other rooms was too small for the, for the six foot, three inches grand to get into.
(speaking French): (audio distorting, speech overlapping) (Monk breathing) (distorted audio continues) (distorted audio ends) (papers shifting) (Renaud clears throat) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Thelonious, did you remember your first concert in Paris, in '54?
Yeah, it was somewhere in the early '50s.
- (speaking French): (speaking English): Again, sorry.
I have to say it in French.
Thelonious... (speaking French): - (laughing): I don't understand.
- Do you remember this first concert?
- Huh?
- In Paris in '54?
- Oh...
I had my first concert... - Yeah.
- Yeah, right... Salle Pleyel.
- Salle Pleyel, yeah.
Do you remember, I think, at this time, your music was too avant-garde, I think, for... (microphone shifting) (reference tone playing) ...not, not to...
But if you don't... (Monk breathing heavily) Okay.
(Monk's breathing softens) But it's interesting.
- (slowly): Yeah... - MAN (speaking French): - Yeah.
MAN and RENAUD (in French): Thelonious, do you remember your first concert in Paris, in '54?
- Yeah?
Uh-huh.
- Yeah?
I think, at this time, your music was a little bit too avant-garde for the French audience.
What do you think of that?
- I don't understand what you keep, what you said.
What are you asking me?
I, I mean... - I said, your music was a little bit too difficult, too avant-garde, for the French audience.
What do you think of that?
- (coughs) Well, I mean, they had my, uh... On the magazine, they had my picture on the, on the front page.
(laughs) I mean, they had, they had, uh, Gerry Mulligan, they had, uh...
Uh... Mm... (snapping) Uh... Jones was his name?
Trumpet player?
And they had a lot of people, everybody, but they had my picture on the front page.
It was too avant-garde or what it was, I mean, whatever it was, it seemed like... That I was the star, but, um... That people was coming to see.
But I wasn't getting the money, though.
Mm, okay.
Thelonious, I'm sorry, I think... (microphone shifting, Renaud speaking inaudibly) (speaking French): (microphone shifting, feedback humming) (static hissing faintly) (microphone shifting, speech inaudible) (reference tone plays) (reference tone repeats) (speech resumes in audio) - Yeah, but... MAN: MONK: I had no idea, I mean, my popularity in France, until I got over here.
And when I got here, I mean, they had Gerry Mulligan, and...
Treating them as the star, but they had my picture on the, on the front page of the magazine for the concert and all that.
And I couldn't get no musicians.
I had, uh, I came over by myself and with no musicians to work with me or anything, wouldn't nobody let their musicians work with me and I practically had to play by myself.
Finally, I got some fellows to play with me.
And, uh... And...
I was getting less money than anybody.
(laughs) That's what happened.
- (speaking French): (audio cuts out, reference tone plays) (higher reference tone playing) (no audio) MONK: How about us, uh, going on to this dinner?
And forgetting this TV program, I mean, it's all over and this stuff is done.
- Okay, okay.
Thelonious, just one, this last, the last one.
Please, it's really the last one.
Here.
Yeah, about the... About piano.
- (chuckles) You asked me about the first time I came to France.
- No, no, no, no, no.
- That's... - That's, sorry, no, no, it's... We don't use that.
- And that first time I came to France, I was ossified all the time I was here.
- No, no, we don't... We don't say anything about that anymore.
Okay?
- Come on, man, everything...
It's no secrets, is it?
- No, but it's not nice.
- It's not nice?
- Yeah.
Now, tell me... Can we talk a little bit about, about piano?
I like to know if you start...
When you were young, you start to play some classic music?
(mumbles) - Yeah, I started... - I'm sorry, wait, wait... (speaking French): MAN (in French): MONK: I learned how to read music, and in the process of reading music, I mean, I had to learn through classical music.
- Please, I have to ask... (in French): (in English): When you were very young, do you start to play some classic music on the piano?
- Yes, I tried to play the piano.
I mean, I learned how to play the piano on my, on my own.
And then later on, I was...
I was, uh... (sniffs) It was, um, it was overruled.
I mean, it was also, it was sanctioned that I should take piano lessons and, and studying piano, learn how to read music.
Uh...
Classical music was used in learning how to read.
- (in French): (stammering, people talking in background) Right.
RENAUD: It's okay, now, it's okay.
- Okay?
Can you say something in French?
- Merci beaucoup.
- (in French): ♪ ♪ (people talking in background) (playing slow piece) (engineers adjusting piano audio) (piece continuing normally) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues, person coughing) (piece continues, person coughing) (piece continues) (piece ends, people talking in background) (one low note playing softly) RENAUD: You know, they are doing, uh... Something with the lights.
(note continues softly) (begins new piece) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece stops, talking in background) (piece resumes) (people talking in background) (reference tone beeping) MAN (in French): (person coughing) (fingers snapping) (begins playing) (in French): Thelonious, do you remember exactly when you composed this tune?
- In, in the early '40s.
- '40s?
(in French): (piece continues) (piece continues, Renaud's audio fades) (Monk breathing) (playing new piece) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) Bernard... (in French): RENAUD and BERNARD: (no audio) (chord holds) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues) (piece ends) (playing new piece) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues, sound fading) (Monk breathing, piece muted) (piece muted) (normal audio resumes, piece ends) (dialogue muted) RENAUD (quietly): Can you play one medium tempo again?
One medium-tempo tune again?
(Monk sniffs) - And I'll get it?
One song and that's... - Yeah.
(Renaud talking softly, Monk sniffs) - Okay.
(playing new, upbeat piece) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece ends) (reference tone playing) (in French): (mutters) (reference tone playing) (piece playing) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues, Monk humming) (piece continues) (Renaud's audio overlapping) (piece ends) (overlapping dialogue continues) (normal audio resumes) (no audio) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Funding for Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the MacArthur Foundation.
