" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk with four special events honoring the great man. First was Professor Robin Kelley's lecture drawn from his biography "Thelonious Monk: The Life And Times Of An American Original." In the short hour presentation, Kelley dispelled misconceptions about the pianist, such as that he was self-taught and lacked technique. The author played some unreleased home practice recordings to give a bit of insight into just how Monk internalized a melody and mastered it in his own language. The overriding theme of the talk was to allay the myth that Monk was a weirdo. Eccentric yes, but he was also a father and husband and, obvious from his music, a deep thinker.

Monk's music is also difficult to capture because so much of the logic of his compositions is, well, Monk. Never fear though, the performances by