YOUNG musicians at a Worcester high school took part in a day of jazz to mark the centenary of the birth of the world renowned pianist and composer Thelonious Monk.

Following a successful series of county-wide jazz education days with a focus on improvisation, Severn Arts (formerly Worcestershire Youth Music) in partnership with Best of Young Jazz (BoYJ) & Birmingham Conservatoire, held the special day on at Nunnery Wood High School on Wednesday, June 14.

The unique jazz workshop was led by two professional jazz musicians and educators, both alumi of Birmingham Conservatoire, Jonathan Silk and Chris Mapp, with the additional bonus of having an ensemble of undergraduates from Birmingham Conservatoire to present a lunch-time concert based on the work on Thelonious Monk.

The venture was part of a MONK-A-THON initiated by Birmingham Conservatoire which will see its students visit as many schools across the region as possible within a set period to celebrate the centenary of Monk’s birth.

The workshop was informed by and focussed on the unique improvisational style and unorthodox methodologies of Thelonious Monk, born in 1917.

As the second most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, Monk contributed numerous standards to the jazz repertoire including, Round Midnight; Ruby, My Dear; Well, You Needn’t and Straight No Chaser Thelonious Monk – Straight No Chaser.

Students were guided to improvise in Monk’s style and with his sense of freedom and playfulness to create new arrangements of some of these standards, using a range of improvisatory styles.

During lunchtime, students and teaching staff were treated to a concert of Monk’s music performed in the dining hall by students of Birmingham Conservatoire.