Thelonious’s wife, Nellie, and children, T.S. and Barbara ( Boo Boo), were the Crown Jewels of his life, as evidenced in the characteristic behavior that set him apart from his fellow musicians. Instead of lingering at the club after a gig, or retiring to an after hours establishment, as was the custom of many jazz musicians, Monk would return home to spend the remainder of the evening and the following morning with his family. His son, T.S., remarked that it was common to see his father engaged in the mundane domestic chores that family life demands, and that he did so willingly. He wrote songs specifically for each of them; not elementary, forgettable ditties, but full jazz compositions recorded for performance as well as posterity.

For his wife, Nellie, he wrote “Crepescule with Nellie. For his son, T.S., known within the family as Toot, he wrote “Little Rootie Tootie”. For his daughter, Barbara, he composed the song “Green Chimneys”. According to Robin D.G. Kelley PhD, “Crepuscule with Nellie," recorded in 1957, was Monk's only,  what’s called through-composed composition, meaning that there is no improvising. It is Monk's concerto, if you will, and in some ways it speaks for itself. He wrote it very, very carefully and very deliberately and really struggled to make it sound the way it sounds. It was his love song for Nellie.”

Monk's compositions and improvisations feature dissonances and angular melodic twists and are consistent with his unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of switched key releases, silences, and hesitations. His style was not always universally appreciated; but jazz giants like Wynton Marsalis called Monk’s playing style the most logical of all the jazz greats.

In 1997, more than 1,700 reel-to-reel tapes were uncovered in a collection of photographer W. Eugene Smith’s work at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona. The recordings, which were made at Smith’s Manhattan loft from 1957 to 1965, serve as a remarkable chronicle of the New York jazz scene in that era. Performers such as Monk, Charlie Mingus, Sonny Rollins, and a host of other luminaries can be heard rehearsing, talking, or engaging in free-flowing jam sessions in the 4,000 hours of material. The recordings prompted new critical interest in Monk, and the tapes and accompanying photographs were archived by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. 

Monk is widely recognized as “The Father of Modern Jazz”, and the mystique that accompanied his stature was not lost on the most popular “Beat Generation“ writers of the ‘50s, who developed their own identity as bohemian hedonists. Literary luminaries such as Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsburg regularly attended performances by Monk and his contemporaries. “Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original” by Robin D.G. Kelley documents the assertion of Norman Mailer that Black jazz musicians “offered an alternative model of masculinity in the age of the gray flannel suit, suburbia, and other sterile forces. Beat (Generation) writers often characterized jazz musicians as emotionally driven, uninhibited, strong black men ...For many, Monk embodied this combination of abstract qualities and unbridled, authentic sound (and an extremely stylish wardrobe, to boot). Moreover, even musicians and critics at the time interpreted his dissonant harmonies, startling rhythmic displacements, and swinging tempos as distinctively “masculine.“

The advent of Modern Jazz, under Thelonious Monk, featured the hallmarks of unconventionality, virtuosity, and improvisation. This aggressively nonconformist genre was analogous to the principles of the Civil Rights Movement. The late jazz critic, Stanley Crouch, once wrote, “Jazz predicted the civil rights movement more than any other art in America.”

According to Wynton Marsalis:

“Jazz music is the perfect metaphor for democracy. We improvise, which is our individual rights and freedoms;

We swing, which means we are responsible to nurture the common good, with everyone in fine balance. And we play the blues, which means no matter how bad things get, we remain optimistic while still mindful of problems.”

In 1955, Monk appeared on “The Tonight Show” hosted by Steve Allen, who was quickly establishing a reputation as a supporter of the Movement by putting Black artists, authors, and activists in front of millions of viewers every week. Monk imbued the program with an increased legitimacy by virtue of his musical eminence, while presenting his music to a new viewership. Monk also offered his time and talents to benefits like “Jazz Sit-ins” sponsored by the Congress Of Racial Equality. 

The most celebrated of Monk’s contributions to the cause of racial harmony and equality was likely his appearance at a high school in Palo Alto, CA to play a benefit concert arranged by a student. Palo Alto is a predominately white community, while neighboring East Palo Alto is home to mostly Black and Hispanic residents. The racial unrest that was festering throughout the nation was mirrored in this small section of California. Beginning in the 1940s, East Palo Alto morphed from mostly white to a population primarily consisting of People Of Color in less than two decades due to “white flight” for fear that Black residents would move in due to The Great Migration.  In the process, East Palo Alto lost 80% of its sales tax base, and was soon physically and culturally separated from neighboring Palo Alto by the expansion of Highway 101.

Against this tense social backdrop, Monk and his quartet arrived at the school to perform, immediately stunning Black onlookers who were skeptical that Danny Scher, a teenager with no supporting agency, could actually produce The High Priest of Jazz. Unsold tickets were quickly scooped up, and the multi-racial audience sat together without incident for two hours in the presence of Monk’s genius, and the absence of malice. Of course, one glorious evening of jazz cannot transform a community or an individual, but it can reveal the possibility of a better, more harmonious existence. One glorious evening can restore sufficient faith to hope and reach for that harmony. To a small town still reeling in disbelief after the dual assassinations of MLK and RFK, Thelonious Monk brought hope.

On February 17, 1982, Thelonious Sphere Monk departed this life, leaving a wealth of amazing compositions, a legacy of excellence, and an original style so complex that it remains unmatched  to this day.