Editing Thelonious Monk (section)

===1952–1954: Prestige Records===
After intermittent recording sessions for [[Blue Note Records|Blue Note]] from 1947 to 1952, Monk was under contract to [[Prestige Records]] for the following two years. With Prestige, he cut several highly significant, but at the time under-recognized, albums, including collaborations with the saxophonist [[Sonny Rollins]] and the drummers [[Art Blakey]] and [[Max Roach]]. In 1954, Monk participated in a Christmas Eve session, which produced most of the albums ''[[Bags' Groove]]'' and ''[[Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants]]'' by Davis. In his autobiography, ''Miles'', Davis claimed that the alleged anger and tension between them did not take place and that the claims of blows being exchanged were "rumors" and a "misunderstanding".<ref>Davis, Miles, with [[Quincy Troupe]], ''[[Miles: The Autobiography]]'', 1989, p. 80.</ref>

In 1954, Monk paid his first visit to Paris. As well as performing at concerts, he recorded a solo piano session for French radio (later issued as an album by [[Disques Vogue]]). Backstage, Mary Lou Williams introduced him to Baroness [[Pannonica de Koenigswarter|Pannonica "Nica" de Koenigswarter]], a member of the [[Rothschild family]] and a patroness of several New York City jazz musicians. She was a close friend for the rest of Monk's life: she "served as a surrogate wife right alongside Monk's equally devoted actual wife, Nellie"<ref name="singer">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/arts/music/19sing.html |title=The Baroness of Jazz |last=Singer |first=Barry |date=October 17, 2008| website=NY Times |access-date=October 12, 2020}}</ref> and "paid Monk's bills, dragged him to an endless array of doctors, put him and his family up in her own home and, when necessary, helped Nellie institutionalize him. In 1958, Monk and the baroness were stopped by the police in Delaware. When a small amount of marijuana was discovered, she took the rap for her friend and even served a few nights in jail."<ref name="singer" />