Grand piano owned and used by Thelonious Monk: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A Baldwin grand piano owned and used by Thelonious Monk. The piano is dark brown with a hinged lid. Gold pigment at the center of the fall board at the front of the piano reads “Baldwin.” The fall board can be closed to hide the keyboard. When the lid of the piano body is open the cast iron frame, pins, dampers, hammers and strings are visible. The frame has raised embossed lettering at several locations. This lettering reads “BALDWIN TRADE MARK” and “BALDWIN” at the top of the frame. At the center of the frame the lettering reads “GRAND PRIX PARIS 1900 GRAND PRIZE ST. LOUIS 1904 THE BALDWIN PIANO COMPANY CINCINNATI 9. U.S.A.” At the bottom of the frame next to the keys the lettering reads “L / 156171” and “ACOUSTIC / PATENTED / CONSTRUCTION.” Printed in black lettering at the top of soundboard, beneath the iron frame is “THELONIOUS MONK / 843 WEST 63RD STREET / NEW YORK 23. N. Y.” This text is visible through the left circular cut out of the iron frame. The piano has four legs with metal caster wheels. The piano has two lyre posts and a pedal rod attached to three pedals at the front, beneath the keyboard.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1962
• Manufactured by: Baldwin Piano Company, American, founded 1862
• Used by: Thelonious Monk, American, 1917 - 1982
• Type: grand pianos
• Medium: wood, iron, metal, ivory, ebony
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 38 5/8 × 58 1/2 × 70 in. (98.1 × 148.6 × 177.8 cm)
• Place made: Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Composers (Musicians)
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Object number: 2018.89.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of T.S. and Gale Monk in memory of Thelonious Monk
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.