Ran Blake

Epistrophy is a solo piano album by Ran Blake devoted almost entirely to Thelonious Monk, recorded in Milan in April 1991 for Soul Note. Of its seventeen tracks, thirteen are Monk tunes, with Epistrophy, written by Monk with Kenny Clarke, heard three times: at the start, in the middle and as a short coda. The other four are standards, from April In Paris to Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Steve Holtje, in The Big Takeover in 2010, called it "the most intimate, personal, and effective tribute to Thelonious Monk any pianist has made".

Blake recorded the album on April 19 and 20, 1991 at Barigozzi Studio, with Giancarlo Barigozzi engineering and Giovanni Bonandrini producing; Gennaro Carone mastered it. The pieces are short, most between two and four minutes, and Hornin' In lasts under one. The longer readings come with Round About Midnight, close to six minutes, Thelonious and Monk's Mood, both over five. Between them Blake places Off Minor, Criss Cross, Reflections, Ruby My Dear, Eronel and Misterioso, along with the standards Just A Gigolo and Nice Work If You Can Get It. For Holtje, Blake's debt to Monk was by then "so thoroughly absorbed into his own unique style" that nothing here sounds like imitation. The liner notes are by Art Lange, thanked on the sleeve with Charles Pfeiffer for help with the production, and the cover uses paintings by John d'Agostino.

This is the Soul Note CD 121177-2, the album's original edition, first released in 1992.