THE GENRE PROJECT - January 6 - Stride

Genre of the Day - Stride

Album of the Day - Solo Monk by Theolonious Monk

Today’s album provided a little bit of a dilemma. Although the top album on Rate Your Music for the stride genre is Thelonious Monk’s Solo Monk, and its only genre listing on Rate Your Music is stride, Thelonious Monk is not really one of the forerunners of stride and this album comes decades after the heyday of stride’s popularity and saturation as a genre. This poses the question: is it better to listen to the best album of a genre, or listen to something that is truly representative of the genre in its purest form within its historical context and time? I guess that’s something that’s only answerable to myself, and it’s striking me now that I still haven’t made a post outlining the details or purpose of this little project. Nonetheless, I feel that one of my main goals is not just to expose myself to a wide array of music, but to try to tune in to music of the highest caliber across a range of musical expression, so I went ahead and listened to Solo Monk.

That dilemma aside, stride is essentially a very specific offshoot of early jazz, highly influenced by ragtime, specifically for the piano. It’s a genre that is dependent on one instrument, which marks a first in this journey. I myself played the piano growing up, and while I never really ascended to the level of playing needed to approach anything as complex as Monk’s compositions (hell, Clair de Lune was difficult enough), my exposure to the instrument makes me appreciate this genre a lot more. The genre derives its name from the act of the pianist striding their left hand across the piano throughout a piece. Traditionally in piano, at least at the most basic level, the left hand provides more of the foundation for a piece and wouldn’t be expected to glide and jump all over the keys as much as the more fluid parts apportioned to the right hand. That makes this genre stand out in both sound and musical approach. Despite its genesis being from ragtime players, it bucks the ragtime approach and usually tackles popular standards, adding a stride aspect.

Thelonious Monk is a name that stands so tall in jazz music (and also, his middle name is literally Sphere! How can you not grow up to be a creative innovator with a name like Thelonious Sphere Monk) that it’s hard to listen to this album and try to only listen to it for stride technique, as his unusual sense of harmony and musicality really overshadows the basic approach at hand. However, that didn’t detract a bit from my listening experience. The album artwork, showing Monk as a pilot at the wheel, perfectly conveys the journey the listener is sent on. It truly feels as if Monk is flying with you in the backseat, as he turns well-known songs—among some of his own compositions—like I Should Care into unrecognizable playing fields for his sonic experiments. However, he pulls off his unorthodox phrasings and wild-abandon note choices so well due to the elegant, almost romantic stride style here which is complimented by a selection of mostly love songs. This is an interesting contrast to the theme of the album centering on his solo instrumentation, without a backing band. 

While I don’t know if my understanding of what stride is has increased compared to my understanding of the other genres I’ve explored thus far, I fear it’s a small price to pay for what I’ve gained by listening to this album. This is rich, unusual, lovely music and a testament to the power of dedicating oneself to a single instrument, and gives me a deeper appreciation for what an innovative pianist can bring to what may be the western world’s most time-honored, revered instrument.