Thelonious Monk
USA, 1944–1973
American jazz pianist and composer (1917–1982), one of the founders of bebop and among the most singular voices in jazz. His angular, dissonant harmonies, percussive touch and space-filled phrasing, and a songbook of standards ('Round Midnight', 'Blue Monk', 'Straight, No Chaser'), reshaped modern jazz.