Thelonious Monk, Minton’s Playhouse, New York, 1947. Photograph by William P. Gottlieb. Library of Congress, Music Division.
In “’Round Midnight,” the preamble to Music, Lewis Lapham asks, “How and why is music the most powerful and liveliest of the arts, the utmost reach of human expression, the stuff of which dreams are made, and, if ancient philosophers and modern physicists are to be believed, also the stuff that binds body with soul?” From his memories of the Great American Songbook to his audience with Thelonious Monk, he recalls his own musical educations.
To listen to more from Lapham’s Quarterly, sample a series of audio adaptations from the magazine (produced in partnership with curio.io) and our podcast, The World in Time.
This recording is made possible by a gift from James J. “Jimmy” Coleman Jr.