Rocky Mount in Edgecombe County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
Thelonious Monk
Born: October 10, 1917, Rocky Mount, NC. Died: February 17, 1982, Englewood, NJ
NC Musicians Mural Trail
Photographed by Mark Parker, December 18, 2023
1. Thelonious Monk Marker
Inscription.
Thelonious Monk. Born: October 10, 1917, Rocky Mount, NC. Died: February 17, 1982, Englewood, NJ. In the early 1930s Thelonious Monk's family moved from NC into a small apartment in Manhattan, the city where Monk spent most of the remainder of his life. Largely self-taught, Monk started his musical activities by age six, and at age ten he began playing an old piano that belonged to his grandparents. As a teenager in Harlem during the depression, Monk developed his highly personalized style of skewed melodies and oblique harmonic progressions. Monk's emergence as a jazz pianist occurred during his association with Minton's Playhouse at the Hotel Cecil on 118th Street in Harlem, where in 1940 saxophonist Henry Minton converted a run-down dining room into a jazz club that featured avant-garde improvisational jam sessions. Monk went on to shake up the jazz world with his angular compositions and freewheeling style. , Muralist: Scott Nurkin
In the early 1930s Thelonious Monk's family moved from NC into a small apartment in Manhattan, the city where Monk spent most of the remainder of his life. Largely self-taught, Monk started his musical activities by age six, and at age ten he began playing an old piano that belonged to his grandparents. As a teenager in Harlem during the depression, Monk developed his highly personalized style of skewed melodies and oblique harmonic progressions. Monk's emergence as a jazz pianist occurred during his association with Minton's Playhouse at the Hotel Cecil on 118th Street in Harlem, where in 1940 saxophonist Henry Minton converted a run-down dining room into a jazz club that featured avant-garde improvisational jam sessions. Monk went on to shake up the jazz world with his angular compositions and freewheeling style.
Muralist: Scott Nurkin
Erected 2020 by NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Marker is in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in Edgecombe County. It is at the intersection of Southeast Main Street and Marigold Street, on the right when traveling north on Southeast Main Street. Marker is on lower left side of the mural on the south wall. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 235 SE Main St, Rocky Mount NC 27801, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Coastal Plain. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Upper South. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Douglas Franklin Davis (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); J.J. Harper's Bookshop (about 500 feet away); The ACL 303 (approx. Ό mile away); Kay Kyser (approx. Ό mile away);
Credits. This page was last revised on April 10, 2024. It was originally submitted on April 9, 2024, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. This page has been viewed 487 times since then and 35 times this year. Photos:1. submitted on April 9, 2024, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. 2, 3. submitted on April 10, 2024, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
