Thelonious Monk: How the Jazz Icon's Unconventional Piano Style Reflected Black America

In 1964, Thelonious Sphere Monk appeared on the cover of Time magazine. It was a remarkable achievement for a middle-aged black man who had been broke just a decade before.

Despite the fact that the virtuosic pianist and bebop originator's compositions were beginning to be studied by jazz and classical musicians alike, most of his nearly 15-year career had been spent in relative obscurity.

The Time cover seemed to mark the end of all that. Churchill had been on the cover of Time.