Thelonious Monk asked Harry Colomby to be his manager.
He was a fairly hip high school teacher with no experience
who dug Monk’s music. He said, “I totally identified with him.
I knew where he was at. No job, no nothing, no police card.
I had no illusion about how much money there is in jazz.
But I realized that Monk was much more than a jazz musician.
He was potentially a symbol. He was symbolic of strength,
stick-to-it-iveness, purity, you know, beyond music, beyond jazz.”
They were lucky to have each other.