Unearthing Unknown Monk, Coltrane Recording

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The cover of the original program for the Nov. 29, 1957, Carnegie Hall concert. (View enlargement to see more of the program and the concert poster.)

Program Courtesy Carnegie Hall Archives; Poster Courtesy Douglas Garn

The cover of the original program for the Nov. 29, 1957, Carnegie Hall concert. (View enlargement to see more of the program and the concert poster.)

Program Courtesy Carnegie Hall Archives; Poster Courtesy Douglas Garn

One day in late January, Larry Appelbaum was thumbing through some old Voice of America audiotapes about to be digitized at the Library of Congress when he made a discovery that would stun him and many other jazz fans.

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The Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at the Five Spot Café in New York City, 1957, the same year as the Carnegie Hall concert. Enlargement: From left, John Coltrane, Shadow Wilson, Thelonious Monk and Ahmed Abdul-Malik.

Don Schlitten

The Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at the Five Spot Café in New York City, 1957, the same year as the Carnegie Hall concert. Enlargement: From left, John Coltrane, Shadow Wilson, Thelonious Monk and Ahmed Abdul-Malik.

Don Schlitten

Eight 10-inch reels of acetate tape were labeled "Carnegie Hall Jazz 1957." One of the tape boxes had a handwritten note on the back that said "T. Monk" with some song titles.

Appelbaum, a jazz specialist at the Library of Congress, got excited at the prospect of finding unpublished materials by the jazz master Thelonious Monk. Then he heard another distinctive sound. "I recognized the tenor saxophone of John Coltrane and my heart started to race," Appelbaum says.

The Nov. 29, 1957, concert was recorded by the Voice of America but never broadcast. For years, the recordings were lost and forgotten. Now, thanks to Appelbaum's discovery, Blue Note Records is releasing them.