The history of jazz piano resonates from a plumb line whence new developments spring. Pianist/composer Carmen Staaf makes a case for the connection between two brilliant and revolutionary pianists, Thelonious Monk and Mary Lou Williams, exposing the common threads on her new recording, Sounding Line. Staaf grew up unraveling the language of Thelonious Monk. But it was with her discovery of the vast stylistic range of Mary Lou Williams that Staaf began to see connections between the two piano legends, proposing that the two had similar influences and, also, influenced one another. Monk's music is a treasure trove of fantastically diverse compositions. Though commonly seen as uniquely idiosyncratic, Monk's tunes are deliberate in their construction and methodical in their performance. Taking cues from two uncompromising geniuses of the piano, Carmen Staaf presents a fabulous contemporary accounting of the importance of Mary Lou Williams and Thelonious Monk in the lineage of jazz on her new recording, Sounding Line.

• Label: SUNNYSIDE
• Genre: Jazz