Sphere was an American jazz band which began as a tribute to pianist

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

, whose middle name was "Sphere". The band, which was formed in 1977, consisted of pianist

Kenny Barron Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era. Early life ...

, bassist

Buster Williams Charles Anthony "Buster" Williams (born April 17, 1942) is an American jazz bassist. Williams is known for his membership in pianist Herbie Hancock's early 1970s group, as well as working with guitarist Larry Coryell, the Thelonious Monk reperto ...

, and two members who had been Monk's bandmates, drummer

Ben Riley Benjamin Alexander Riley Jr. (July 17, 1933 – November 18, 2017) was an American jazz drummer known for his work with Thelonious Monk, as well as Alice Coltrane, Stan Getz, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Ahmad Jamal, and as a member of the group Sp ...

and saxophonist

Charlie Rouse Charlie Rouse (April 6, 1924 – November 30, 1988) was an American hard bop tenor saxophonist and flautist. His career is marked by his collaboration with Thelonious Monk, which lasted for more than ten years. Biography Rouse was born in Wash ...

. After Rouse died in 1988, Sphere disbanded but reunited ten years later with

Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz was first exposed to jazz as the son of the owners of a jazz nightclub in Baltimore. In 1958 he left Baltimore to study at the J ...

taking Rouse's place. Sphere recorded its first album, consisting of Monk tunes, on the day that Monk died, February 17, 1982. The band recorded several more albums which included jazz standards and original compositions. According to Riley, an interesting group dynamic resulted from the fact that the band included two musicians who had played with Monk and two musicians who hadn't. He reflected: "It was good for the other guys... to hear the music in a way Monk would have written it and orchestrated it. It made them think of the music in a different way. It was also good for us to hear their interpretations of Monk's music. The music was always fresh."

Discography

* 1982: ''

Four in One 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

'' ( Elektra/Musician) * 1983: ''

Flight Path In the United States, airways or air routes are defined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in two ways: "VOR Federal airways and Low/Medium Frequency (L/MF) (Colored) Federal airways" These are designated routes which aeroplanes f ...

'' (Elektra/Musician) * 1985: '' Sphere On Tour'' (

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

) * 1986: '' Pumpkin's Delight'' (Red) contains all tracks released on ''Live at Umbria Jazz'' (Red) * 1987: '' Four for All'' (

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * '' The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee h ...

) * 1988: ''

Bird Songs Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs (often simply ''birdsong'') are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizatio ...

'' (Verve) * 1997: ''

Sphere A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

'' (Verve)

References

{{Authority control American jazz ensembles Verve Records artists Elektra Records artists Tribute bands Hard bop ensembles Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 2002 Thelonious Monk 1977 establishments in the United States 2002 disestablishments in the United States