Oct 15th, 2008 · Jazz pianist Jason Moran has been praised for his eclectic and distinctive sound. But sometimes, Moran says, he's in danger of becoming inhabited by the brilliant jazz innovator of another time, Thelonious Monk. Here, Moran talks about discovering one of his biggest musical influences.
Oct 6th, 2008 · Thelonious Monk, who would have been 91 on Thursday, wrote many great songs. But a great many covers of his music wind up butchered by interpreters who seem not to understand it. From the scores of full-length tributes, here are five which demonstrate the good sense to keep Monk weird.
Aug 4th, 2008 · Patience is a virtue — especially for an order of monks who lived in perpetual silence until the 1960s. On an island near Wales, one community of Trappists now manages a thriving mail-order Internet business. Their sales of homemade perfumes and sweets were slowed by a sluggish dial-up connection. So they upgraded to broadband.
Jul 18th, 2008 · Mystery novelist Janwillem Van de Wetering was once a motorcycle gang member in South Africa, an aspiring monk in Kyoto, Japan and a policeman in Amsterdam. The Dutch author of The Hollow-Eyed Angel, The Blond Baboon and The Maine Massacre died July 4 at age 77.
Jul 6th, 2008 · The monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria sing ancient Gregorian chants in their 12th-century church — and then post them to YouTube. Their technological savvy landed them a record deal, and now their album is storming the European charts and arriving in America. Father Karl Wallner talks to host Andrea Seabrook about balancing pop stardom with the religious life.
May 19th, 2008 · Ashin Thitzana, a Burmese monk in the Los Angeles-area, offers an interpretation of the tragedy.
Apr 12th, 2008 · Meredith Monk has spent four decades challenging audiences and winning awards with her unusual fusion of song, theater, dance, and film. Lately, she's begun to consider how her work will last after she's gone. Her latest CD, Impermanence, attempts to reconcile with that question.
Mar 28th, 2008 · A lockdown following anti-government protests in Tibet spreads to China's provinces, where monks say they are confined to monasteries and forced to denounce the Dalai Lama. The unrest has undermined Beijing's ideal of ethnic harmony.