[upbeat music] - [Narrator] Composer and pianist, Thelonious Sphere Monk, is one of the most recorded jazz artists in history and known for his unconventional and complicated style of music.

But without his mom, wife, and a baroness, his masterful piano may never have happened.

Monk was born in 1917 in Rocky Mountain into a very hard life.

So in 1922, his mother moved the family to New York City.

Music lessons were a part of that new life.

He started with a trumpet, but was a natural at piano.

And by the time he was 13, he had won so many amateur contests at the Apollo that he was banned from competing.

By the age of 23, he was the house piano player at Minton's Playhouse alongside jazz greats, Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Coleman Hawkins.

Monk married Nellie Smith in 1947, and she supported him and their two children throughout his life and career.

In 1954, Monk met baroness, Pannonica Rothschild and she became Monk and Nelly's lifelong friend and supporter.

She became known as the Patron Saint of Bebop and Modern Jazz.

Three years later, Monk began playing at the Five Spot on famed 52nd Street with John Coltrane, pushing his career to a new level.

By 1964, he was on the cover of Time Magazine.

Felonious Monk has become the second most recorded jazz composer ever.

His advice to musicians, "You gotta dig it to dig it, you dig?"