Jon Batiste - Monk Movements

Monk Movements finds Jon Batiste diving headfirst into Thelonious Monk's songbook, recasting straight-ahead standards as long-form, virtuosic solo piano pieces on the fourth volume of his piano series.

Released alongside its gentler companion Monk Meditations, this is the extrovert of the pair. Batiste has long spoken about how Monk makes his brain and soul feel aligned, and here he channels that connection into something exuberant, fusing the bebop pioneer's angular language with stride, blues and the wider Black American piano tradition he loves.

"In Walked Bud" and "Blue Monk" swing with joyful abandon, Batiste's audible exclamations popping up mid-phrase as if he can't quite contain himself. "Ugly Beauty" lingers on Monk's lovely, lopsided harmonies, giving the melody space to breathe before he starts to pull it apart.

The famously knotty "Brilliant Corners" gets the same adventurous treatment, and lead single "Susu's Back in Town" and the closing "Monk Movement" round out an eight-track set that rarely sits still for long. It's playing of real technical command, but the feeling always comes first.

For seasoned jazz listeners it's a fresh angle on familiar tunes, and for newcomers it's a joyous way into one of the music's great composers, played by someone clearly having the time of his life.