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Jazz 91.9 WCLK | Membership Matters

Teodross Avery: Harlem Stories-The Music of Thelonius Monk

Wj3 Records

Teodross Avery is an Oakland, California-born musical prodigy, who started playing the saxophone at age 13 after hearing John Coltrane's Giant Steps. He's had stops along the way including the Berklee School of Music, from where he was signed to GRP/Impulse! Records at age 19. Over the years he has scored soundtracks and performed with a diverse group that has included Roy Ayers, Mos Def, Joss Stone, Taleb Kweli, and Lauryn Hill. He wrote music for and performed on Amy Winehouse's debut album Frank. He is currently the head of Jazz Studies and Commercial Music at California State University at Dominguez Hills. His ninth album under his own name was released in July, 2020 and is called Harlem Stories: The Music of Thelonius Monk. Avery and two different quartets collaborate on re-interpretations of ten of Monk's cuts. Musicians featured include pianists Anthony Wonsey and DD Jackson, bassist Corcoran Holt , drummers Willie Jones III and Marvin 'Bugalu' Smith and percussionist Allakoi Peete. Sunday night at nine on Mainstream and Modern on Jazz 91.9 WCLK I'll open the show with his version of Evidence, a song that Monk wrote in 1948 but didn't really earn its wings until Monk started playing it with John Coltrane in the subsequent decade. Those are giant shoes(to go with giant steps) for Teodross Avery to fill, but on this record he does nicely.