The Monkathon is a film of Miles Okazaki playing the complete works of
Thelonious Monk on solo guitar in a single night at the Jazz Gallery
in NYC in October of 2024. It is directed by Frank Heath and produced
by David Breskin. Miles Okazaki is an American guitarist and composer
based in Brooklyn, NY. His musical style is described by the New York
Times as “utterly contemporary, free from the expectations of what it
means to play a guitar in a group setting — not just in jazz, but any
kind.” The Monkathon website includes the complete performance of
Monk’s 66 compositions, a featurette documentary by director Frank
Heath, Okazaki’s training notebooks and writings about his process,
and other peripheral materials. The publication of the site also
celebrates a re-release of Okazaki’s 2018 album WORK, a 6-CD set of
the complete works of Thelonious Monk, an unprecedented project that
jazz writer Nate Chinen called “the six-string equivalent of a free
solo climb up El Capitan.”
Miles Okazaki is originally from Port Townsend, a small seaside town
in Washington State. His touring and recording experience over three
decades includes work with Kenny Barron, John Zorn, Steve Coleman,
Miguel Zenón, Stanley Turrentine, Henry Threadgill, Patricia Brennan,
Dan Weiss, Anthony Tidd, Adam Rudolph, Anna Webber, Matt Mitchell,
Mary Halvorson, Jonathan Finlayson, Jen Shyu, Jacob Garchik, Jon
Irabagon, Jane Monheit, Amir ElSaffar, Darcy James Argue, and many
others. He has released 12 albums of original compositions over the
last 12 years on the Sunnyside, Pi, and Cygnus labels. Okazaki was
voted the #1 rising star guitarist in the Downbeat Magazine critic’s
poll, has published a book Fundamentals of Guitar on Mel Bay, teaches
at Princeton University, and holds degrees from Harvard University,
Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School.