Rework: Variations on a Theme by Monk (2022)

for string quartet
8'
score

chamber

Program Note

The theme on which the variations are based comes from a lesser-played jazz standard titled “Work” by the great jazz pianist Thelonious Monk. Somewhat unusually, Monk only ever recorded it once, which was released in a 1956 compilation album Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. Although Monk seemed to have canned the tune, the more I played and improvised on it, the more I became enchanted by its eccentric melody, colorful harmony, and unpredictable rhythm. Inspired by both Monk’s interpretation and my own improvisational practice, I felt compelled to further develop and transform these improvisatory ideas in a different setting, and this string quartet became a perfect space for my explorations. The four variations in this piece allude to and sometimes break musical archetypes of the past. The outer two, titled “Head In” and “Head Out,” pay homage to the forms commonly found in bebop and free jazz; the inner two, titled “Passacaglia” and “Fugue,” follow and extend the Baroque forms.