Monk Festival: Renee Rosnes Quartet “Monk’s Sphere”

“Few jazz pianists are as scarily satisfying.” — The Times (UK)

Renee Rosnes, one of the essential pianists and composers working today, opens Smoke’s annual two-week celebration of Thelonious Monk with a quartet of some of her favorite colleagues.

“Her style at the keyboard is powerful and modernistic, combining classical technique and sharp, clean phrases with a dramatic compositional style,” says Stereogum. “The music is reminiscent of mid-’60s Blue Note albums by players like Joe Henderson, Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson (with whom Rosnes worked), Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams; it swings, and never loses touch with the blues, but it’s also abstract and biting.”

Rosnes is joined by tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist David Wong, and drummer Carl Allen.