Thelonious Sphere Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk

As a sideman said to a journalist when Monk visited the UK once: ‘You got castles over here? Well, Thelonious, he’s the king of hip castle’. The most important pianist-composer in modern jazz, famed for his quirky, very rhythmic compositions and very individual, yet logical improvisation (one of his solos was even transcribed for a saxophone section).

How many other jazzmen have danced to playbacks of their solos to determine if they were good enough? For my money, the most immediately recognisable sound in jazz piano.