At the Jazz Workshop (and its companion piece, At the 'It' Club) came about through Columbia's plan for a "live" album from Monk's West Coast tour of fall, 1964. The resultant album Misterioso in fact included studio cuts as well and used almost none of this San Francisco date, which had to wait until a mid-1980s vinyl issue to be heard. This CD contains all the music recorded by Columbia on November 3-4, 1964, including an opening solo Monk doodle on "Don't Blame Me" that can only be termed "of historical interest", and it really does feel as if you're sitting at the back of a club listening to a well-grooved small group unwind and set itself at ease over a long, intimate evening. There is little of the tension and spark that characterised Monk's group in concert, but there is also none of the occasional stiffness that would also bring on. Drummer Ben Riley, having taken over from Frankie Dunlop, drives the band with precision and fire, his even accents occasionally giving the band's motion an epic quality it had never previously possessed. This is for Monk fans. --Keith Shadwick