Thelonious Monk - In Walked Bud

"In Walked Bud" is a 1947 jazz composition by Thelonious Monk. It was based on the chord progression of an earlier standard, Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" (1927). The song was a tribute to jazz pianist Bud Powell

Monk recorded the tune several times during his career, starting with the 1947 sessions for Genius of Modern Music.

The last recording by Monk is from the 1968 album Underground, with lyrics and vocals by Jon Hendricks. The song has been covered by numerous jazz artists and is considered a jazz standard.

Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music".

Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" and "Well, You Needn't".

Monk is the second most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk wrote about 70.

Often regarded as a founder of bebop, Monk's playing later evolved away from that style.

His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are consistent with Monk's unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations.

Monk's manner was idiosyncratic. Visually, he was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats and sunglasses.

He was also noted for the fact that at times, while the other musicians in the band continued playing, he would stop, stand up from the keyboard and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano.

He is one of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time (the other four being Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck) as of 2010.