Thelonious Monk was one of jazz’s great entertainers. But good Monk cover versions are generally as rare as hen’s teeth.

You could probably count on one hand the interpretations that have really captured Monk’s playful spirit and/or created music of lasting value.

But now we can add Dayna Stephens’ recent album Monk’D to that small, illustrious list. Best known as a tenor saxist, the NYC-based Stephens instead picks up the acoustic bass for this project which also gathers Ethan Iverson on piano (one of Monk’s pianos, according to the press release), Stephen Riley on tenor and Eric McPhearson on drums.

Recorded on 24 March 2022 at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, the album focuses mainly on lesser-known Monk compositions – a big part of its success. Melodies are played completely faithfully but there are very creative, non-irritating rhythmic and structural embellishments.

The opening whole-tone scale on ‘Brake’s Sake’ alerts one that this project is going to work.  Thereafter no one is in a great hurry to impose themselves. The instruments are artfully placed across the stereo spectrum (fascinatingly, each tune seems to necessitate a different stereo set-up).

Riley’s soft approach on the horn is closer to Lee Konitz than Charlie Rouse. There are no tuning problems for him either, unlike Rouse on a few of the later Monk albums. Meanwhile Iverson mainlines the sheer delight with which Monk strung together seemingly contradictory ideas.

‘Humph’ shunts amusingly between double and half-time, with Iverson’s ambiguous chords prodding Riley into a pleasingly obtuse solo with interesting rhythmic displacements, then echoed by both Stephens and McPhearson during their solos.

‘Coming On The Hudson’ is a lovely reworking, with ingenious comping from drums and piano during Stephens’ short bass solo. There’s a ‘floating’ feeling to the whole piece – you may even find yourself giggling along.

‘Just You And Me Smoking The Evidence’ cleverly shows how the standard ‘Just You, Just Me’ underpinned Monk’s ‘Evidence’ while the ballads ‘Ruby My Dear and ‘Ugly Beauty’ are played relatively straight, though Iverson begins the former with some brave, almost serialist colours.

‘Stuffy Turkey’ throws in some funny chromatic key changes and for some reason is in mono – but it just feels right. ‘Hornin’ In’ is also played straight with loads of space from the rhythm section during Iverson’s solo.

Surprisingly Monk’D didn’t make it into Down Beat’s ‘Albums Of 2025’ list (but is reviewed very favourably in the January 2026 edition – Ed.). A shame because for this writer it’s one of the most enjoyable listens of the last few years.