Ironically, in 1964, the year that Riverside 's doors closed, Thelonious Monk appeared on the cover of Time magazine. By then, he was recording for major label Columbia, even though he had made the rounds of the jazz indie world with stints at Blue Note, Prestige, and finally Riverside, where he recorded the most original and important work of his career. Time's Barry Farrell wrote of Monk: “It is his high philosophy to be different, and having steadily ignored all advice and all the fads and vogues of jazz that made lesser musicians grow rich around him, he now reaps the rewards of his conviction gladly but without surprise.” By the end of the decade, Monk was among the most famous and best-selling jazz musicians in the world. In this 10-track compilation, a sampling of Monk's Riverside oeuvre, recorded between 1955 and 1959, features such classics as “'Round Midnight,” “Ruby, My Dear,” “Epistrophy,” and “Rhythm-a-ning,” as well as the pianist covering Duke Ellington's “It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing).”

Each CD also contains a FREE full-length bonus disc featuring other great Riverside artists.

BONUS DISC [Included in ALL listed titles] 1. Bobby Timmons - Dat Dere (5:22) 2. Wes Montgomery - Airegin (4:25) 3. Chet Baker - Soft Winds (6:26) 4. Bill Evans Trio - My Foolish Heart (4:56) 5. Charlie Byrd - Desafinado (2:29) 6. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Thermo (6:46) 7. Thelonious Monk - Bemsha Swing (7:42) 8. The Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Bohemia After Dark (7:34)