THELONIOUS MONK: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

Thelonious Monk was one of,the most important and influential musicians of our century. His piano style was so different that early in his career, many people assumed he didn't know how to play. As a composer, he changed the way jazz was played, listened to, and thought about. STRAIGHT, NO CHASER is built around footage shot in 1967-68 by documentarists Michael and Christian Blackwood. This rare footage has been augmented with interviews from Monk's son, saxophonist Charlie Rouse, and his close friend Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter, among others, as well as private moments with Monk at home. But it is his music, constant throughout, that makes this film an engrossing portrait of one of the most eccentric and enigmatic figures in the history of jazz.