WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.130 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.130 --> 00:00:04.195 align:middle line:90% "Thelonious Monk." 00:00:04.195 --> 00:00:05.070 align:middle line:90% Someone told me this. 00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:06.737 align:middle line:84% Well, I read this poem once, and someone 00:00:06.737 --> 00:00:08.880 align:middle line:84% told me this story about Thelonious Monk. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:09.900 align:middle line:90% I read it at a prison. 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:11.983 align:middle line:84% Some guy came up to me after the reading and said, 00:00:11.983 --> 00:00:13.780 align:middle line:84% you know, you know how Thelonious did it? 00:00:13.780 --> 00:00:17.370 align:middle line:84% I mean, even though Thelonious has-- this really strange way 00:00:17.370 --> 00:00:19.470 align:middle line:90% of playing a solo. 00:00:19.470 --> 00:00:22.628 align:middle line:84% And the guy came up to me and said, you know how he did that? 00:00:22.628 --> 00:00:23.670 align:middle line:90% I said, no, I don't know. 00:00:23.670 --> 00:00:26.910 align:middle line:84% He said, well, I lived in Thelonious's neighborhood 00:00:26.910 --> 00:00:29.160 align:middle line:84% and I grew up with him, you know? 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:33.905 align:middle line:84% And, yeah, he told me this story about Thelonious used to-- 00:00:33.905 --> 00:00:35.280 align:middle line:84% you'd be walking down the street, 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:37.380 align:middle line:84% and you'd see Thelonious walking down the street. 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:40.350 align:middle line:84% And you'd see him walk over to a lamppost. 00:00:40.350 --> 00:00:42.510 align:middle line:84% He'd walk over to the lamppost and put his head 00:00:42.510 --> 00:00:44.542 align:middle line:90% to the lamppost. 00:00:44.542 --> 00:00:46.500 align:middle line:84% And he'd come back and try to get the hum-- put 00:00:46.500 --> 00:00:47.570 align:middle line:90% the hum into his piano. 00:00:47.570 --> 00:00:48.445 align:middle line:90% That's how he did it. 00:00:48.445 --> 00:00:49.700 align:middle line:90% That's what he did, man. 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:51.120 align:middle line:90% And I said, well, OK. 00:00:51.120 --> 00:00:53.540 align:middle line:90% And I love stories about-- 00:00:53.540 --> 00:00:55.820 align:middle line:84% I mean, I'm really just open with jazz stories. 00:00:55.820 --> 00:00:58.070 align:middle line:84% People come to me and tell me these outrageous stories 00:00:58.070 --> 00:00:58.910 align:middle line:90% about jazz figures. 00:00:58.910 --> 00:01:00.497 align:middle line:90% And I go, oh, that's fine. 00:01:00.497 --> 00:01:03.080 align:middle line:84% I love the stories, and I don't care whether it's true or not. 00:01:03.080 --> 00:01:05.570 align:middle line:90% I just love the stories. 00:01:05.570 --> 00:01:12.050 align:middle line:84% So, "Thelonious Monk--" I'm a real sucker for stories. 00:01:12.050 --> 00:01:13.730 align:middle line:90% "I know what to do with math. 00:01:13.730 --> 00:01:14.840 align:middle line:90% Listen to this. 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:17.570 align:middle line:84% It's arithmetic, a soundtrack, the motion 00:01:17.570 --> 00:01:19.010 align:middle line:90% frozen in these lampposts. 00:01:19.010 --> 00:01:20.360 align:middle line:90% It can be sung. 00:01:20.360 --> 00:01:22.520 align:middle line:84% I can lift away its logic, make it 00:01:22.520 --> 00:01:26.480 align:middle line:84% spin like an orbital satellite, find gambling's true pitch. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:28.160 align:middle line:90% It can be played. 00:01:28.160 --> 00:01:31.970 align:middle line:84% Adventure, the trying of patience, holding back, 00:01:31.970 --> 00:01:35.360 align:middle line:84% holding up, laying out, stop-time, slow motion, 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:37.250 align:middle line:90% time travel, spacewalking. 00:01:37.250 --> 00:01:39.980 align:middle line:84% It can be splintered, strained through the fine 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:41.280 align:middle line:90% mesh of a second. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:44.600 align:middle line:84% Now I try a few bars of what's next? 00:01:44.600 --> 00:01:48.560 align:middle line:84% Run it over my hands, ignite it, make the fire sound 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:50.939 align:middle line:90% like April in Paris." 00:01:50.939 --> 00:01:51.439 align:middle line:90%