[biggieshellz]

I think the article takes the "discrimination is important" quote as cryptic and philosophical when it has a very real meaning. Compare it to an interview with the great Dizzy Gillespie:

> Interviewer: What’s it take to make a great trumpet player?

> Dizzy Gillespie: (long pause) Well, the first thing is to be a master shit detector. Detect what is valid and what is not.

And to the well-known Feynman quote:

> The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

What Monk is getting at is that when you're woodshedding (practicing by yourself) and trying to build up your playing and improvisation, you have to be your own critic a lot of the time. Are you really playing something hip, or are you playing something corny? Are you swinging? Are you making the chord changes? Are your time and intonation as good as you think? Amongst all the other musicians you hear, live and recorded, are you selecting the influences that are really going to build your playing in the way you want? If you're coming up with ideas on your own, are they really fresh and valid, or are they just the first thing that came to your mind?

[kevinwang]

Right, and it also connects to what he wrote about not playing all those fancy notes, and about how what one doesn't play is important. An undiscriminating musician plays everything that comes to mind. A discriminating musician chooses what notes to play.

[throw7]

When I read that, I thought of this quote: "Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass." - Zappa

[idontwantthis]

Any idea what “all reet” means?

[biggieshellz]

Same thing as "all right" but different, you dig?

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4deSYYzffM by Cab Calloway

Or the lyrics before the solo break in Zappa's "Zomby Woof".

[yesenadam]

In the vout dictionary, 'reet' is defined as 'right, yes, okay'.

https://fromtheothersideofthemirror.com/2009/04/09/the-origi...

Vout is Slim Gaillard's (very silly) language. Hear it spoken here with Bird and Dizzy, uh I mean Daz McSkiven Vout-o-roonee : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvxpIFZGfAE