‘All I do is play,’ Thelonious Monk says at one point in Rewind and Play. In one short sentence he defines the essence both of his being and the riveting footage shot in December 1969 for French television in Paris. The recordings were edited like a composition by the brilliant jazz musician: elegantly swaying around and away from (but always returning to) the main theme, the big man behind his piano.
In 1969 Thelonious Monk was on a successful tour of Europe. It ended in Paris and it was there that this footage was shot, following Monk, inevitably accompanied by his wife Nellie, arriving, walking around town but mostly sitting behind his piano, patiently waiting for instructions and questions which in the end would culminate in an episode of Jazz Portrait for French television.
It is great to watch Monk travel in a car, set next to Nellie, his lifelong partner and support. It tells you everything about their relationship: her doing the talking, looking out for him, while he sits in silence, seemingly lost in his thoughts until someone addresses him directly.
Even more telling are the takes in the studio, where his interviewer is trying to get his questions and Monk’s answers right. You can see the interviewer’s irritation grow as Monk answers in just simple, short sentences, avoiding anecdotes, deeper meanings and emotions. Why did he put his grand piano in his kitchen, in his Harlem apartment? Monk simply answers: ‘Because it was the only room big enough.’ End of story. Meanwhile the camera zooms in on his face, showing the glistening pears of sweat dripping down his face, his eyes almost turning inwards in an attempt to escape this real world, his mouth slightly ajar.
The minute he hits a key on his piano his absentmindedness disappears: he is fully in the moment, in the present, alive. In a wonderful scene people are walking around him with papers, ladders, blocking the camera, talking or shouting while he plays on, lost in his own musical universe. You can see him searching for words on his piano – or maybe not even searching, he is solely expressing himself through the music. He pauses, and for a short moment you think he’s done, but then a dark, deep tone emerges and is repeated, while around him the chaos continues. It seems to go on forever before he breaks into a new melody, clearly pleased with himself. And why wouldn’t he be?
This documentary, which looks like a diamond in the rough, unpolished but of incredible valuable, shows the legendary jazz musician in his truest form. A man who doesn’t care about presence, fame and glory, interpretations of his music, his or others opinions. He just cares about music. The way the footage was edited feels like it was done in the same organic way that Monk plays – going back and forward, repeating fragments or letting them just go on forever, seemingly without any intention or goal. Using sudden breaks and powerful silences in between sequences to enhance the intensity of those scenes.
In the end it feels like you have gotten as close to Thelonious Monk as you can possibly get. Watching him sweat profusely, seeing him pet a small dog in French cafe somewhat awkwardly, noticing his discomfort when he’s asked to answer the same question yet again and hearing him breath heavily after doing so, feeling his resentment when he’s being filmed and getting lost with him in his musical language when he finally gets to play.
It would be interesting to know what footage Alain Gomis has left out, building this impressionist portrait. There are no excerpts of the final version of the studio recordings, so we don’t know what eventually made it to the cut. It would interesting but at the same time, it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter why he put his piano in his kitchen. Or if he was influenced by classical music. Or what his wife Nellie means to him. All he wants to do is play. And when he does, all you want to do is watch and listen.
France/Germany, 2022, 65 mins
Director Alain Gomis
Editing Alain Gomis
Sound Matthieu Deniau
Produced by Sphere Films, Andolfi
Producers Anouk Khélifa, Arnaud Dommerc
Co-Production INA
In Co-operation with ARTE France, Les Films du Worso, Schortcut Films, Die Gesellschaft DGS, Studio Orlando
