Monk magic: a fresh look at the genius of Thelonious

A rummage through the racks at Jazzworld in Melbourne Plaza, in Central, last week turned up some interesting things - as the exercise often does. Which is why I can't afford to drop by there too often. Monk in Paris Live at the Olympia, however, was too hard to resist.

This is the inaugural release in what will probably turn out to be a series of previously unavailable recordings of the extraordinary Thelonious Monk in concert. It is the first fruit of an agreement between producer Joel Dorn's Hyena Records and the Monk estate, which owns the tapes.

Certainly, the programme is off to a cracking start. This set, recorded in Paris 39 years ago today, features the Monk quartet of the period - comprising Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Larry Gales on bass, Ben Riley on drums and Monk at the piano - at the top of their form.

The sound suffers occasionally from a bit of tape wobble, but all the instruments are recorded clearly and much of the playing is simply wonderful.

The sound and vision quality of a bonus DVD included in the package is dodgier, but this Norwegian television recording of the same lineup playing Lulu's Back in Town, Blue Monk and Round Midnight just over a year later in Oslo is still revealing.

'You haven't heard Monk until you've seen him,' says Dorn - obviously a fan - rather breathlessly, but he has a point. The idiosyncrasies of Monk's music do make more sense when you can see him, hands hovering over the keyboard for an improbably long time, waiting for the precise instant at which to place that carefully considered dissonant chord.