Duck Baker plays Monk

From the artist himself:

“Duck Baker Plays Monk” has finally been pressed, and will be available to order in the next couple of weeks. New Yorkers should be able to find it at Downtown Music Gallery in a matter of days, but those of us living further from the center of the universe will have to be patient for a little while longer. 

This HAS been a long time coming, I have had the idea to release a record of my solo arrangements of tunes by Thelonious Monk practically since the day my CD of Herbie Nichols tunes, “Spinning Song”, was released, over 20 years ago, but for a long time I couldn’t find a label that was interested. I did get most of the recording done when Doug MacKenzie kindly offered me the use of his studio in Cary, North Carolina for a couple of days in late 2010, but still didn’t have a label until Ben Young and Joe Lizzi at Triple Point got interested about five years after that. I recorded two more tracks to fill out the program in late 2015, and over the course of the last two years things have slowly come together. 

I could have wished that the record could have come out during 2017 to coincide with Monk’s centennial celebration, and even more that Roswell Rudd, who contributed liner notes as well as informing my approach to both Monk and Nichols so deeply, were still around to see the final product. We just missed by a few weeks on both counts, there. But apart from that, my only complaints are with the clams that the guitarist insisted on making all the time, and even those are things I can live with. This is one of my most ambitious records, and I’m not sure how many more as demanding as this I have left in the tank.

“Duck Baker Plays Monk” is only available on LP, and it is a high-end production with a high price-tag. I make no apology for this; it’s kind of nice to have a Duck Baker record come out that, for once, is not being done on a shoestring budget, and that I will actually be PAID for. The last time that happened was when “Spinning Song” was released. And the last time I made a solo LP was 32 years ago! 

Stay tuned for information about ordering, or check at <duckbaker.com>

Duck is a true original, a superb musician, composer and arranger and an acoustic guitar wizard... I look forward in spinning the wax on my turntable.