Not to be confused with the 1948 song "Straight, No Chaser", this album, released almost twenty years later, captures Monk in his later period. As he was largely inactive for most of the 1970's, this is one of his final albums. The only original Monk composition, "Green Chimneys" was relegated to the bonus tracks. The rest are covers/standards and re-recordings of two earlier compositions, the title track, and "We See", originally recorded in 1953.
While all of this would seem to indicate a kind of decline, the Columbia years were among the most lucrative and successful of Monk's entire career. The label promoted him like crazy, culminating in his famous Time magazine cover. They also allowed him to stretch out older compositions thanks to the possibilities allowed by the 33 RPM LP, something old single discs didn't allow for.
This is one of the few jazz albums I have that did not come from a list of core albums, and this probably isn't a great place to start getting acquainted to Monk's music. Thanks to Columbia's still-impressive marketing, they put it next to some other jazz masterpieces like Ellington at Newport and Kind of Blue, so a much younger me just assumed it was in that league. It's not a bad album at all, but probably not at those lofty heights.
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