Wednesday 19 October 2011

Day 42: Thelonious Monk - Thelonious in Action

Dear Nathaniel,

Hello my love, I hope everything is perfect for you. I am having a lot of trouble sleeping for a variety of reasons I suppose. It's gotten to the point now where I'm always tired since I haven't been able to have a full nights sleep for so long. I just wish I could get that for just one night right now. Things just felt so much simpler when we were still expecting you.

I know we will never forget you, and that's not something I'd want to happen. But it's so hard day to day just knowing you're not with us anymore. I dream of you every night but recently I feel like I dream more about the fact that you're gone instead of dreaming about what should have happened. And at the moment since I can't do anything right now it just feels like I'm always waiting for something out of my control. Like waiting to get my passport back or waiting for various appointments and important days.

As such it really feels as if we've lost whatever small control we did have over our lives because we're always waiting for something to happen, and whenever that does eventually happen we end up waiting for something else. That's why I really want to just get a fresh start in Norway and in doing so, at least to some extent finally taking control of our lives. I know once we get to Norway and I'm in a job and we have somewhere to live there will be more arbitrary things to wait for especially when it comes to money, but at least in a job it won't be a constant concern.

And once we are settled we'll be able to think about giving you a brother or sister when we feel ready and safe to do so. I suppose I should be able to talk to you about money, I had always expected that talk to come much later. It's our intention to try to buy a house with whatever deposit we can scrape together and then spend most of our earnings paying off the debt as fast as possible, of course we will still try to enjoy ourselves and decorate the house to fit our needs but paying off debt should be our number one priority.

While in Norway the economy is booming at the moment due to the oil industry especially in Stavanger we can never know how long it will last so I don't want to end up in debt without a job if worst came to worst. I also want to plan so that we can live comfortably and not have to worry when we're older, and of course the quicker you spend to pay off the debt the less we have to pay in interest over the years.

I still need to introduce the wonderful jazz we've been listening to however, and it is none other than Thelonious Monk with a 1958 live recording. Of course the nature of the recording is really of little importance given that at the time songs were recorded as parts of full takes without much editing if any at all so a live setting with a good recording setup has very similar sound quality to that of a studio recording. Without the occasional clapping and voices being heard every now and then it would have been hard to tell that this is indeed recorded live.

Of course this record is attributed to the Thelonious Monk Quartet but we'll just stick to the simpler definition as Monk was the band leader on this brilliant show. All four of the musicians were at the top of their game this day. Of course Monk's piano and Johnny Griffin's sax take precedence as the main solo instruments but the rhythm section is very tight as well and not without solos. The band plays incredibly well together live which I'm guessing was the main way for their music to be heard during this era.

I'm not entirely sure about this but it really feels like the whole jazz scene is centered mainly around New York, at least the idea of this cool style of jazz and hard bop. If not solely New York then at least the area around it as well with things such as the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island (it was also held in New York in the 70's). Although the location of the scene isn't entirely important it is interesting to think about considering the vast amount of collaboration between the individual artists especially at a time where travel could have been difficult for the musicians themselves due to discrimination.

Whatever the reason the 50's Jazz scene is an amazing wealth of great music. I would probably have played jazz to you very early around bedtime or when waking up or just generally doing stuff since it's amazing background music as well, even if it's a bit of a waste given how nice it is to straight up appreciate. Although I suppose most of everything I play you right now serves as background music to my various rantings, but it's fun anyways.

I love you my angel, I hope you really enjoyed today's album. I miss you so much but I know everything will be okay one day. Goodnight my angel Nathaniel.

Love from Dad.

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