Bobby Broom Plays for Monk

The mighty fire of Broom's playing ... seems to have grown hotter and deeper in recent seasons.
- Josef Woodard, Jazziz

For his third Origin release, master guitarist Bobby Broom pays tribute to one of the most important voices in jazz with a set of Thelonious Monk compositions and several standards Monk recorded during his time on Riverside Records. He is joined by his long standing trio-mates, bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins, as he again puts his own very personal spin on the classic repertoire. "Bobby Broom Plays for Monk" will certainly stand as another milestone in Broom's rich catalog of critically acclaimed recordings. "(Bobby Broom's) trio can be compared with Sonny Rollins' and the classic John Coltrane Quartet." - JazzTimes

Click HERE to hear Bobby talking about this record on the Michael Eric Dyson Show.

Production Info:

Produced by Bobby Broom
Recorded January 23-25, 2009
at Victorian Studios, Barrington, IL
Recorded and mixed by Josh Richter
Mastered by Allan Tucker at Foothill Digital, NYC
Photos by Mark Sheldon
Cover design by John Bishop

Reviews of Bobby Broom Plays for Monk

All About Jazz (John Barron)
Chicago-based guitarist Bobby Broom pays tribute to jazz icon Thelonious Monk on Plays For Monk, a fresh take on eight of the late pianist's compositions, along with a couple of standards associated with Monk's repertoire. Joining Broom for his third release on Seattle's Origin Records are his long time trio mates, bassist Dennis Carroll and drumme ...

All About Jazz (Mark Corroto)
Monk lives! Perhaps it can be said that Thelonious Monk has had many lives. Ever since the unique pianist established his repertoire in the 1940s and '50s musicians have, probably beginning with saxophonist Steve Lacy, taken up the task of covering the now infamous music. With Plays for Monk, guitarist Bobby Broom delivers one of the finest Monk tr ...

Jazz.com (Ted Gioia)
I enjoy the cover, with its playful reference to a classic Monk LP. But the music is the real treat here. Bobby Broom has played on some big stages in his career, yet he also knows how to create an intimate sound?imagine a trio of world class musicians strolling into your apartment and playing so under-the-radar that the neighbors on four sides and ...

The News & Observer (Owen Cordle)
Thelonious Monk's compositions and piano playing are declarative and often angular. On "Bobby Broom Plays for Monk" (Origin), Broom, a guitarist who plays regularly with tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, proves subtle and nuanced. With band mates Dennis Carroll (bass) and Kobie Watkins (drums), this is a pleasing alternate take on Monk. Monk neve ...

The Buffalo News (Jeff Simon)
Bobby Broom, "Plays for Monk" (Origin). Broom is Sonny Rollins' guitarist. Considering that Rollins was one of the greatest performers ever to play on Monk classics ("Brilliant Corners" and "Friday the 13th," to name two), he had as direct a pipeline to Monk's compositional genius as any guitarist these days is likely to have. The result on this tr ...

Billboard (Jon Regen)
Veteran guitar ace Bobby Broom has worked with an illustrious list of jazz luminaries, from the late organist Charles Earland to the legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins. On Broom's latest release as a leader, he tackles the nearly sacrosanct works of renowned pianist/composer Thelonious Monk with an artful mix of grit and grace. Backed by the sympa ...

JazzWax (Marc Myers)
I usually don't care much for 82534 Thelonious Monk tributes, but Bobby Broom Plays for Monk is an exception. Rather than try to mimic Monk's falling upstairs playing technique, Broom applies his smooth guitar to the barbed compositions without compromising Monk's genius. The results are fresh and surprisingly warm. ...

Columbia Daily Tribune (Jon Poses)
Guitarist Bobby Broom, now a fixture on the Chicago scene, is as well-known for his periodic work as a member of many of Sonny Rollins' groups during the past two decades as he is for his own efforts as a leader and accomplished guitarist. Broom, who can be seen and heard in Chicago quite regularly, has issued, of late, a series of very good rec ...

Miami Jazz and Blues Examiner (Bob Weinberg)
On the heels of a similar Peter Bernstein project, Sonny Rollins sideman Bobby Broom takes an imaginative stroll through the Thelonious Monk songbook with his trio of bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins. Of course, there's the novelty of hearing a guitar trio play Monk (the pianist never recorded with guitar, although apparently bootle ...

100 Greatest Jazz Albums Blog (Ken Watkins)
Bobby Broom, joined by Dennis Carroll (bass) and Kobi Watkins (drums), plays eight Thelonious Monk compositions in this guitar trio take on the great pianist's music. Jazz musicians have never found it easy to capture the wonder and the eccentricity of Monk's music in any terms other than his own. Yet that has not stopped generations of players ...

J.B. Spins (Joe Bendel)
Like an ambitious ice-skating jump, interpreting the music of Thelonious Monk carries a high degree of difficulty for jazz artists, but those who nail it, are guaranteed to make a lasting impression. Yet, Bobby Broom makes it sound easy as pie on Bobby Broom Plays for Monk, his refreshingly laidback new CD tribute to the legendary composer-pianist. ...

Audiophile Audition (Jeff Krow)
For Bobby Broom's third CD for Origin Records, he has chosen to tackle the iconic Thelonious Monk, in a guitar trio setting. The CD song list is made up of eight Monk compositions and two standards - Lulu's Back in Town, and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - that were an occasional part of Monk's repertoire. Broom's simpatico with his trio has been buil ...

All Music Guide (Rick Anderson)
How to play the compositions of Thelonious Monk is always a slightly awkward question, even -- maybe especially -- for those musicians who love and admire him the most. His apparently awkward piano style was so much a part of his strangely convoluted and rhythmically challenging compositions that to play his music in what seems like a faithful and ...

The Epoch Times (Joe Bendel)
Like an ambitious ice-skating jump, interpreting the music of Thelonious Monk carries a high degree of difficulty for jazz artists, but those who nail it, are guaranteed to make a lasting impression. Yet, Bobby Broom makes it sound easy as pie on Bobby Broom Plays for Monk, his refreshingly laidback new CD tribute to the legendary composer-pianist. ...

Jazz Society of Oregon (George Fendel)
If you're like me, you can never get enough Monk, whether it's the iconic pianist-composer himself, or, as in this case, an affectionate tribute by another player. Bobby Broom's recent album for Origin Records is a showcase of Monk's greatest hits, played with style and a bit of Monk-ian wit here and there by the talented Broom and his trio. Bassis ...

Downbeat, September 2009 (Philip Booth)
**** Thelonius Monk's music-with its quirky and challenging melodies, compelling progressions and traces of humor and poignancy running through everything-is the gift that keeps on giving. His tunes, in the right hands, can sound eternally fresh. So it's no big surprise that well-traveled guitarist Bobby Broom (a regular with Sonny Rollins, Dr. Jo ...

All About Jazz.com (Stuart Broomer)
There's something almost contradictory about Monk compositions: they're insistently individualistic, built on odd chord changes with often minimalist melodies. But as idiosyncratic as they are, they often succeed in bringing out what's best in the musicians playing them, as if those tunes are open to individuality as well as being the product of it ...

The Santa Barbara Independent (Josef Woodard)

Chicago Tribune (Howard Reich)
August 10, 2009 Thelonious Monk seems to bring out the best in Bobby Broom. For though jazz listeners know Broom for the buoyant, blues-based sensibility of his guitar work, he attains a new degree of fervor in the music of Monk. Certainly he did over the weekend at the Green Mill Jazz Club, where he celebrated the release of his latest CD ...

ICON Magazine (Nick Bewsey)
Chicago-based guitarist Bobby Broom, a dynamic solo artist (The Way I Play: Live in Chicago) and member of Sonny Rollins' band since 2005, sets his sights on ten of Thelonious Monk's most frequently covered tunes on what should be a career-changing album. "Bobby Broom Plays for Monk" is a deeply satisfying trio recording that showcases Broom's war ...

ChicagoJazz.com (Paul Abella)
Over the past couple of decades, Bobby Broom has proven himself to be an amazing musician and fascinating guitarist on weekly gigs, both solo, and with the awesome Deep Blue Organ Trio. Throw in playing time with Sonny Rollins and you've got a guy who's played with the best and learned from the best. It's no wonder that his discography has found ...

Oakland Examiner (Brian McCoy)
Bobby Broom was just a teenager when he became enamored with jazz, but even then he figured he'd started too late. As the Chicago-based guitarist explains in the interview below, he realized even in 1976 that ? human mortality being what it is ? it would be years before he acquired the chops needed to play with his be bop heroes. How many would st ...

ICON, August 2009 (Nicholas Bewsey)
***** Chicago-based guitarist Bobby Broom, a dynamic solo artist (The Way I Play: Live In Chicago) and member of Sonny Rollins' band since 2005, sets his sights on ten of Thelonious Monk's most frequently covered tunes on what should be a career-changing album. Bobby Broom Plays For Monk is a deeply satisfying trio recording that showcases Broom's ...

StateOfMindMusic.com (Doug Collette)
Sonny Rollins and Bobby Broom are long standing collaborators having worked together in the great saxophonist's band going on thirty years now. The guitarist has nurtured an increasingly fruitful solo career for himself? the latest product of which is squarely in the great jazz tradition of "Newk" himself? whose initial offering in a series of conc ...

JazzTimes (Bill Milkowski)
Guitarist Broom, a long-time sideman to tenor titan Sonny Rollins, has released a series of exceptional trio recordings in which he explores, deconstructs and otherwise re-invents familiar pop material (2001's "Modern Man" and "Stand!" and 2007's "Song and Dance"). On this exemplary outing he investigates Monk's music, introducing some daring new ...

All About Jazz (Chris M. Slawecki)
"In many ways, Monk personifies all that attracted and continues to satisfy me in my love affair with jazz music," said Bobby Broom upon releasing Plays for Monk. "The way that he, the musician, fit into the jazz landscape while at the same time standing out and apart from it; the controlled but unpredictable creative freedom he spoke with as an im ...

Chicago Jazz Examiner (Neil Tesser)
#5 ? Bobby Broom Plays For Monk (Origin). Now that Bobby Broom is back on the road with Sonny Rollins (who first tried to hire him when the guitarist was still in his teens), the rest of the world has the chance to catch up on what Chicagoans have known since the 80s: Broom has one of the few truly recognizable styles among modern guitarists, and ...

Cadence (David Kane)
On Bobby Broom Plays for Monk, Sonny Rollins veteran strummer Bobby Broom trots out an enjoyable collection of well-known Monk pieces. Monk's instrumental style was so idiosyncratic that few have dared follow him down that particular path so his influence has tended to be greater as a composer. Of course, he was also idiosyncratic as a composer t ...