Lucky for us jazz fans, the pioneer of Direct Cinema, Charlotte Zwerlin (co-director of Salesman & Gimme Shelter with Albert Maysles) got involved making a documentary of the jazz great, Thelonious Monk, with the candid newfound footage of Monk's 1968 European tour by the Blackwood Brothers for German television in the early 80s. Straight No Chaser is that rare filmed testament of genius at work.
They wanted to involve Monk in the film but his health was failing and eventually passed away in 1982 and the estate complication and funding problems prevented from the completion of the film until 1988 (with large thanks to Clint Eastwood, a huge fan of bebop and whose production company Malpaso Productions provided funding). The film captures the hulking, introverted, inarticulate man at work, always donning various funny hats and wire rimmed glasses, on stage and off stage. It shows his astounding composing skills - the sophistication of his arrangement and meticulous music notes on paper, and how he conveyed that to other musicians. It features his devoted wife Nellie and his relationship with the millionaire Baroness Panonnica de Koenigswarter (née Rothchild).
With interviews with family and friends, musicians and managers, we get the complicated picture of a genius who wasn't really appreciated in the beginning of his career. Just like many jazz greats in the 50s, he was targeted by cops and frequently harrassed. Jazz, for many black musicians at the time, was the freedom of expression. Monk's complex compositions weren't selling, but few afficionados in the music industry let him keep making his music. The docu tells a funny story about Monk taking the rap for his musician buddy Bud Powell on narcotics possession charges and had his permit to play suspended. And in turn Rothchild taking the rap for marijuana possession later on. It speaks about his physical ailment and mental decline - that he sometimes would not recognize people and stare at a space for moments. It also shows his jubilant on stage antics - twirling around on stage then back to his piano. Twirling around at the airport and on the streets with music always playing in his head.
It's the closeups of Monk's hands though, that god-like hands dancing energetically above the keys- creating and playing something incredible, something out of this world - real genius at work. Plus, we get to find out he was a cat lover. For Monk fans, Straight No Chaser and the recent Alain Gomis's Rewind & Play make a great double feature. Rhythm-A-Ning
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