One of my favorite all-time recordings is "The Man I Love," the Gershwin song here performed by Miles Davis, Kenny Clarke, Percy Heath, Milt Jackson, and the incredible Thelonious Monk. There are two versions of it on the CD release from 1989. Both are sonic perfection. The solos are fascinating. Miles' solo is slow and soulful, and Jackson's vibes bring it up to a faster pace, but Monk's solo is abstract painting as music. His piano sketches the beautiful melody like he's tracing something on paper on the sand on a windy day. I believe its take two where Monk even goes slower and plays with the melody as if having liquid slowly disappear between the fingers. I get the impression that Miles probably wanted to throw his trumpet at Monk for going so slow, and playing with the melody as if a cat is is batting a toy mouse. The whole album is terrific, but to have the two versions of "The Man I Love" opening and closing this album is just perfection being practiced by these giants of music (jazz).
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