Monk's Dream

Recording history and tape provenance

Monk's five years at Riverside had established him among musicians and serious listeners without bringing wider recognition. Columbia had far greater promotional reach, and the album was positioned deliberately.

The cover is straightforward rather than shadowy, and the sleeve carries quotes from admiring critics including Martin Williams. The programme is built almost entirely on material Monk had recorded elsewhere. That made the record approachable for newcomers while longtime listeners recognised the reworkings.

Only "Bright Mississippi" was newly composed for the session. Its resemblance to the changes of "Sweet Georgia Brown" briefly drew a legal threat from that song's publishers.

"Bolivar Blues" and "Five Spot Blues" both date to the Riverside years, under their original titles "Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are" and "Blues Five Spot." "Monk's Dream," "Bye-Ya" and "Sweet and Lovely" had been recorded a decade earlier for Prestige.

At the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival, Monk appeared as a guest with Ellington's orchestra, playing a Billy Strayhorn arrangement of the title track. The Ellington reference on the sleeve follows from that.

This quartet had been together for nearly two years by these sessions, the longest stable lineup of Monk's career.

The click on "Monk's Dream"

A faint click is audible on track A1 on multiple editions. Several owners have traced it to the master tape.

One collector compared an Impex copy directly against an original two-eye pressing and found the identical tick in the identical spot on both. That places it in the source recording, not in any pressing or mastering.

A copy with that click is not defective. It is the record.

Original Columbia pressings (1963)

CL 1965 in mono and CS 8765 in stereo are the first pressings, on two-eye labels with "360 Sound" branding.

The track timings printed on the original jacket are inaccurate for four tracks, "Monk's Dream," "Bright Mississippi," "Bolivar Blues" and "Bye-Ya." They reflect the lengths before Columbia trimmed them in production to shorten the album, and they do not affect the audio.

Clean originals are attainable. This was the best-selling album of Monk's lifetime, so the original run was large.

Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step (2019)

The One-Step edition, catalogue UD1S 2-011, is a 2×180g SuperVinyl set at 45rpm in a foil-stamped box. It was limited to 6,000 numbered copies and is out of print.

Krieg Wunderlich mastered it from the original master tapes. The chain runs 1/4-inch tape at 15ips through a DSD256 transfer, an analog console and then the lathe, with pressing at RTI. The Absolute Sound included it on its Super LP List.

Owner reception is strongly positive. A minority report warped discs or surface noise on individual copies, including one buyer who received two damaged copies in a row. That matches Mobile Fidelity's wider record on quality control.

Impex Records 180g (2017)

The Impex edition, catalogue IMP6014, was mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI.

HiFi+ rated it 10 out of 10 for both recording and music. AnalogPlanet's Michael Fremer gave it 9 out of 10 for both. He finds it more dynamically nimble and present than original pressings, which he describes as carrying a hooded colouration that homogenises the sound.

A small number of buyers report surface noise or deformed labels on individual copies. The mastering itself draws consistent praise.

The original 2017 pressing with its Impex seal intact commands a modest premium over the later unsealed repress.

Other reissues

Columbia Special Products JCS 8765 (1973) is a budget-line "Collectors' Series" reissue, distinct from the standard-catalogue CS 8765. No sound reviews of it have surfaced.

That distinction matters when buying secondhand, since both carry 8765 in the catalogue number.

Later 1970s and 1980s Columbia reissues on orange and subsequent label designs were cut from later-generation metalwork rather than the original masters. They work as budget listening copies.

Buyer's guide by budget

$$: The Impex Records 180g reissue, the best-value modern cut.

$$$: A clean original Columbia CS 8765 two-eye stereo pressing.

$$$$: The Mobile Fidelity One-Step on the secondary market.

Pressing tier summary

References

• Discogs (master, all versions): https://www.discogs.com/master/147910-The-Thelonious-Monk-Quartet-Monks-Dream
• AnalogPlanet, "'Monk's Dream' IMPEX Reissue Makes The Most of Master Tape": https://www.analogplanet.com/content/monks-dream-impex-reissue-makes-most-master-tape
• Opening Records with Craig, "Thelonious Monk's Monk's Dream from Impex Records pressed at RTI": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOdYcpFZY9c

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