Question 1

True or false: Monk's wife Nellie was a crucial manager who handled his finances and touring logistics for decades.

Accepted Answer

True. Nellie Monk managed his career, shielded him from stress, and even drove him to gigs, especially during his later years of mental health struggles.

Question 2

True or false: Monk never learned to read music and composed entirely by ear.

Accepted Answer

False. Monk could read music, though he was not fluent; he learned enough to write his compositions and taught himself theory from books.

Question 3

True or false: Monk was once arrested for possession of a marijuana cigarette that was actually a rolled-up piece of paper.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1958, police arrested Monk in a car with a rolled paper; the charge was dropped when tests proved it was not marijuana, but the arrest hurt his career.

Question 4

True or false: Thelonious Monk was a classically trained pianist who studied at Juilliard.

Accepted Answer

False. Monk never attended Juilliard; he was largely self-taught and learned by playing in church and Harlem clubs as a teenager.

Question 5

True or false: Monk's composition "Round Midnight" is the most recorded jazz standard ever written by a jazz musician.

Accepted Answer

True. Over 1,000 recordings exist, making it the most covered jazz standard by a single jazz composer, often cited in jazz history.

Question 6

True or false: Monk had a pet monkey named 'Boo' that he sometimes brought to recording sessions in the 1950s.

Accepted Answer

False. This is a myth; Monk had a pet cat named 'Boo', but no monkey. The rumor likely started from his eccentric public image.

Question 7

True or false: Monk was known for dancing in a circle during other musicians' solos, a habit he called his "voodoo dance."

Accepted Answer

False. Monk did a slow, spinning dance on stage, but he never called it a 'voodoo dance'; it was simply his way of keeping time.

Question 8

True or false: Monk once performed a complete concert sitting on a stack of newspapers because he forgot his piano bench.

Accepted Answer

True. At a 1955 Carnegie Hall gig, Monk used newspapers to raise his seat height, finding the piano bench too low for his playing style.

Thelonious Monk Trivia Questions