Thelonious Monk, Tar Heel - Airs Feb. 18

The jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk is usually remembered as a hip New Yorker. He was a pioneer of Bebop who lived most of his life on Manhattan's West Side. But Monk was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and raised by his mother, a native of that tobacco and railroad town. Monk's son and the writer Alan Gurganus, among others, reflect on Monk's often-neglected Southern roots -- and, by extension, those of many other jazz greats.

In Thelonious Monk, Tar Heel, we'll discover Monk's early roots with producer John Biewen. Then it's off to a mini-concert by Silver Leaf Gospel Singers at an MLK Celebration in Portland, Oregon. Listen in.

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