Of course, you are not superstitious about Friday the 13th; it’s all of those silly other people. Thelonious Monk must not have been worried by it, or he wouldn’t have named a composition after this notoriously risky day. Its performance was one of the highlights of his celebrated recording made at New York’s Town Hall in February of 1959.
The other musicians in the ten-piece ensemble were Donald Byrd, trumpet; Eddie Bert, trombone; Robert Northern, French horn; Jay McCallister, tuba; Phil Woods, alto sax; Charlie Rouse, tenor sax; Pepper Adams, baritone sax; Sam Jones, bass; and Art Taylor, drums. The arrangement is by Hall Overton. The order of solos is Rouse, Monk, Woods and Byrd.
The Town Hall concert album, a major entry in Monk’s discography, remains available.
This is the second Friday the 13th this year; the first was in January. Further FTT trivia: We will have two Friday the 13ths each year until 2020. Happy (if that’s the proper term) Friday the 13th.