JAZZ REVIEW : Thelonious Monk Jr.’s Sextet Has Solid Start in Only a Year Together

The sextet led by Thelonious Monk Jr. (a.k.a. T. S. Monk) visited Los Angeles all too briefly, a three-day engagement at Catalina’s that was scheduled to close Sunday.

Monk’s role in this group is unlike that of his famous father. Playing drums rather than piano and leaving the compositions and arrangements to others, he has a tightly knit unit that draws its repertoire mainly from the works of his father’s contemporaries.

The senior Thelonious was represented in “Monk’s Dream.” Idrees Sulieman, who played trumpet in the 1947 Monk band, composed “Tell Me What’s Your Name.”

What gives this band its personality is the ingenuity with which these tunes of an earlier era have been updated through rearrangements by Don Sickler, who is also a fluent and lyrical trumpeter. With him are two high-energy saxophonists, Bobby Porcelli on alto and Willie Williams on tenor.

The skill inherent in the blowing choruses lends a contemporary touch to these compositions, which never sound even minimally dated. Flanking the drummer-leader are two outstanding rhythm contributors, Scott Colley on bass and Ronnie Mathews on piano.

With its intelligent blend of mature material and state-of-the-art soloists, the Monk group, organized only a year ago, has made impressive headway, establishing itself as the best new all-around acoustic group of the 1990s.