In 1964, it had been a year since Thelonious Monk had entered the studio, and suddenly due to an appearance on the cover of Time Magazine, he was a celebrity of sorts. Around the time of the magazine appearance, Monk and his working quartet (Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, Butch Warren on bass and Ben Riley on drums) entered the studio to record what would become "It's Monk's Time". A mix of unrecorded and underrecorded originals and standards, it is one of the most unique albums in Monk's catalog.