open.spotify.com/album/5NJllZYh3wc4aO10eTCfPU

1. "misterioso in G major"
track starts, stops, and restarts: laid back blues feel and jangling parlor acoustic guitar played with fingers only: reminiscent of the Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence?! Bill Frisell plays it in G major too... Goes into a bouncing swing rag-time guitar hop after the main melody statement, then into more wild, bebop-inflected solo trajectories for the latter half of the track before slipping back into that haunting blues melody once again for the outro.

2. "blue monk" : Flutist and writer/librettist Tristan Cooley describes the track as, "Very out. Clown jazz for our times." Some folky subversion/derision going on here, but it's also spaced-out and meditative. Maybe it's all wrong and right at the same time?! (Thelonious does have a tune called "Ugly Beauty".) It ends with the weirdest denouement you've never heard: the guitar implodes, screams and pierces through Satan's layer with an F harmonic ringing high.

3. "bye ya" : A latin tune originally named from the spanish phrase "vay-ya", this version bops along with that same sort of tiki-meets-sophisticated nonchalance, but there's also a spicy little song form going throughout. some classic four-on-the-flour guitar chunking and spliced chording going on at times: rhythmic collaging? Probably the strangest and least-iconic Monk number on the album, this version is also the longest track of this collection, nearly falling off the rails a few times during the high-neck solo bits, as if the guitarist is juggling bars of soap with one foot on the ground, and one in the grave. . .

4. "epistrophy" : written in 1941, this tune roughly translates to "something about repetition", but the word is completely made up and the song is atonal and totally batshit crazy in its structure, however, it still maintains a folkish sound and matches the ethos of this Uncivilized project and album quite well, despite this version being an incredibly, incredibly loose reading of the tune's "standard" melody and chords. it's more of a sketch, really. It has super-behind-the-beat quality, and some of the chording sounds big and lush like Johnny Smith's "Moonlight in Vermont" period: A janky jangle jungle, for sure!

5. " 'round midnight in e minor" : the approach to this cherished composition is low-key and lo-fi, while still remaining sincere and not too post-modern: A thread of uneasiness and noir-tinged chaos runs throughout. The rendition is characterized by hushed notes and pristine tones from a solo acoustic guitar, giving a fresh, sombre-yet-humorous perspective to the enduring songscape that is "'Round Midnight", whose character reminds us that "it's all good; it's all bad".

6. "blue monk (feat. Tristan Cooley) [BONUS TRACK/LEAD SINGLE] : The flute slips in about 2 seconds after a startling opening chord from the guitar. They weave through this blues number with (not a little psychotic) grace, finding nooks and crannies to dwell and explode from. As the pianist Marcus Roberts once said about the tune, ''Sounds like your grandfather sitting on the porch making sure you aren't going anywhere too far.'' Jimmy Guiffre's lush and dark version with Jim Hall from The Western Suite is an apt correlative...

PRAISE

“I listened to a few of the Monk tracks -- nice stuff, and a cool approach.” — Nate Chinen, The New York Times, NPR, Pitchfork. etc

“Tom Csatari keeps the spirit of Monk alive on this spontaneous and unique album.” —Monk Songbook transcriber & Electric Bebop Band Guitarist Steve Cardenas

"Lots of jazz guitarists have tried their hand(s) at Thelonious Monk’s enigmatic music. It’s somehow impossible and irresistible all at once. Tom Csatari’s take is more personal than many I’ve heard. Uncomplicated and intimate, Csatari’s interpretations channel Monk’s playful seriousness. Kinda makes me wonder why Monk never featured a guitarist on his own recordings." —Grammy-wining guitarist, composer, author and songwriter Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Allen Toussaint, Vulfpeck, etc.)

“Patient playing.”
—Sam Lisabeth (Guerilla Toss, Tredici Bacci, Martyr Group, CP Unit)

BIO
"Uncivilized is one of Brooklyn music’s wonderful little anything-goes collectives — a noisy jazz big-band one night, a folky acoustic combo the next — but with a continuously high degree of musicianship. To my mind’s eye, Uncivilized is more collective than band, as their recordings and live sets seem to feature different line-ups (though always coalescing around guitarist Tom Csatari), playing everything from acoustic music, to straight-ahead jazz, to an electric rock rumba that’s jam-bandy in the best ways." — Piotr Orlov, Brklyner