Reading Kelley's book, I was just fascinated to learn about the process by which Monk created music. He composed on paper, at the piano, but was loath to let people see his charts -- possibly due to justified fear of having them stolen and used by others. Instead, he expected his sidemen to learn his tunes by ear, on the bandstand. That would have been a real trial by fire!

It's a lot different than how jazz players develop repertoire today. The standard repertoire has largely been codified in "fake books," mistakes and all. Reading and improvising from fake books has become part of basic training.

I'd like to learn more about what playing jazz was really like during that time period, and as a player, experience it that way myself if possible. I'm intrigued by the question: Would I have been able to hack it at all in that environment?