“Thelonious Hands…”

In the grand scheme of things, I’d love to go down as one of the greatest documentary filmers this culture has ever witnessed. Will I get there or not remains to be seen. However, the ability to craft a story through film and words has always intrigued me, so whenever a quality piece presents itself, I always try to devote time to study and admire it. With the Lil’ Wayne documentary the talk of the town right now, I wanted to bring to your attention another project I’m eagerly awaiting.

Shifting away from the Hip-Hop realm for a second, this production focuses around one of the greatest musical minds of all time, Thelonious Monk. From the mind of DuBois Ashong, the 23-year-old New Jersey filmmaker creates a short composition around one of music’s greatest musical pieces, “Round Midnight.”

“Thelonious Hands” is a biopic set around the life of Thelonious Monk and the creation of the most recorded jazz standards of all time, “Round Midnight.” As life and music have brought Thelonious little to no true recognition as the “High Priest of Bebop,” ‘Hands’ explores the experimental musical notation as well as an elusive, mysterious and sometimes eccentric lifestyle for the anecdote to musical nightmares. Just as Monk is fully engulfed by these nightmares, the same eccentricity which labeled him crazy becomes the novelty which marks him genius….. “ROUND MIDNIGHT.”

Set for release on January 23, 2010, the short film hopes to expose a side of the icon not known by many music enthusiasts of the present generation. If you consider yourself a fan of authentic music, I implore you to check this out mainly to understand the trials and tribulations of a man whose only ambition was to convey his painful, yet beautiful imagery through the art of music. In the end, isn’t that what we all love this art for anyway?