Jazz, jazz, jazzaroo. That's what I say about Live At The 'It' Club-- Complete. It's two discs covering all three of Thelonious Monk's 'It' Club performances from October 31 and November 1, 1964. Yes, it's awesome.

When it came to straight, mellow jazz, no one could touch Monk. His style-- especially during the period in which these tracks were recorded-- was smooth and soulful, the ultimate suave. The man could play a piano like it was a goddamn video game.

For archivists, Live At The 'It' Club-- Complete is like a dream come true. The sound quality is nothing short of outstanding (it sounds as though it were recorded on one today's finest digital soundboards), and eleven tracks have been restored to their original length (they were shortened on the original 'It' Club record). 'It' Club also contains three previously unreleased cuts ("Bright Mississippi," "Just You, Just Me," and the brilliant "Teo") from the original performances. And these are some long assed songs, too; most of these tracks run about 8 minutes in length, some longer than 12. And as far as 'bang for the buck' goes, you'd be hard pressed to cram more stuff on two CDs-- there's more than 150 minutes worth of music in all.

Any reasons not to buy this disc? Well, I guess, if you don't like jazz. But that'd be about it.

-Ryan Schreiber