Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 in Rocky Mountains – February 17, 1982 in Englewood) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", a vocal that has been performed by major jazz artists, "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser," an often-recorded tune whose title has been adopted as the name of their group by the PBS-featured men's a capella singing group from Indiana University, "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", dedicated to saxophonist Bud Powell, and "Well, You Needn't".