MONK, Thelonious Sphere (1917-1982). Work! Prestige Records, 1955.

Album signed and inscribed in blue ballpoint pen on the back of the sleeve by Thelonious Monk: ‘Good Luck always, Thelonious Monk’, additionally signed by collaborator Sonny Rollins.

Compiled from three sessions in 1953-4, these performances from ‘the end of Monk’s Prestige period included some remarkably inventive and adventurous music… the trios with Heath and Blakey remain among the best performances of his career… the November 1953 recordings with Sonny Rollins… [yielded] the astonishing Friday the 13^th, a brilliant use of simultaneous thematic statements.’ Cook & Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings.

[With:] a concert handbill for a performance by Thelonious Monk and His All Stars at the Open Door, New York, on 29 August 1954, letterpress printed in black on light tan paper stock, 228 x 152 mm.