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The closest a film camera ever got to enigmatic jazz visionary Thelonious Monk, this intimate portrait sheds light on the corners of a brilliant and complex life. Superbly crafted by Direct Cinema pioneer Charlotte Zwerin from a trove of precious 1960s archival footage, Thelonious Monk Straight, No Chaser captures the pianist and bebop innovator in rare, unguarded moments on- and offstage, revealing an eccentric and complicated personality. Made with the same freedom of spirit that defines Monk’s artistry, this essential slice of jazz history is a unique glimpse into the quixotic world of one of the twentieth century’s most revolutionary artists.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Introduction by director Charlotte Zwerin
New interview with musician T. S. Monk, son of Thelonious Monk
New program about Zwerin and the making of the film featuring interviews with writer Michael Schulman, assistant editor Bernadine Colish, and Zwerin’s nieces Lisa and Laura Tesone
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by musician and scholar Paul Grimstad

New cover by Adam Maida

I kind of wish there was a bonus feature on the Blackwood brothers - their footage was so essential to this film, and there was always bitterness about how little mention or credit they got after the film came out. (Sadly it happens quite a bit with documentaries where a credited director works with a treasure trove of archival on-location footage shot by another filmmaker. Once in a while you get a great exception like Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man which is openly about that fact.)

It's been decades since I saw this, but yeah, the archive is the star here (and Monk, obviously). Hopefully the extras get into that a bit.

Your comment raises an interesting question about these kind of projects, because there are really two different stories here: the one inherent in the shot footage; and the story of the shooting of that footage. There's an argument that the integrity of the archival footage demands a straight (no chaser) presentation of that original, inherent story - especially if a film was not completed at the time of shooting - and that the second (Blackwood) story deserves its own documentary. It's not always easy, or advisable, to try and combine the two. To use a jazz analogy, the Dean Benedetti story is a fascinating one in its own right, even if you don't hear a note of his recordings.

In Grizzly Man, Herzog is really layering three films: the Timothy Treadwell story; the story of the film Treadwell was making (i.e. the archive) - which wasn't necessarily the film he thought he was making; and the story of Herzog's engagement with / response to the above. Herzog does this all the time, and he usually does it pretty well, and there are plenty of other documentaries where the layering of different 'films' is entirely the point (from the contrapuntal mastery of Sherman's March way back to the brutal necessity of South). But it's become something of a cliche and a crutch for the filmmakers' story to be rammed into any and every documentary, so that they disappear up the arsehole of their own making-of. (See: just about any streaming documentary series.)

This is a worthy release on its own, but it would have been really cool if they could have added Alain Gomis’ 2022 Rewind & Play, a sort of remix of a French TV program from 1970, “Jazz Portrait: Thelonious Monk”. I think these films provide complementary portraits of a man under intense internal and external pressures. And, to the point above, is another interesting reassemblage of existing (rather exploitative) footage.

But I understand the real world rights reasons why it’s not included.

The closest Clint Eastwood will likely get into the collection. Wonderful movie

I can definitely see Criterion releasing Bird.

Omensetter wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 8:12 pm I can definitely see Criterion releasing Bird.

I would hope, but WB seems to love bundling his films and preventing labels from licensing them. Maybe a Universal title like Breezy, though

beamish14 wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 8:11 pm The closest Clint Eastwood will likely get into the collection. Wonderful movie

Maybe this is the year A Perfect World makes it into the collection.

Matt wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 8:09 pm This is a worthy release on its own, but it would have been really cool if they could have added Alain Gomis’ 2022 Rewind & Play, a sort of remix of a French TV program from 1970, “Jazz Portrait: Thelonious Monk”. I think these films provide complementary portraits of a man under intense internal and external pressures. And, to the point above, is another interesting reassemblage of existing (rather exploitative) footage.

But I understand the real world rights reasons why it’s not included.

Sorry for the belated reply but are you aware of this release?