Footage of Hank Mobley and Bobby Timmons

The video below is an excerpt from the ground-breaking documentary Monk (1968) by brothers Christian and Michael Blackwood. You may be familiar with that film, and its companion Monk in Europe (also 1968), given how much of them have appeared in subsequent works by other authors like Straight, No Chaser (1988), again about Monk, and the more recent The Jazz Baroness (2012) about Nica de Koenigswarter.

Both films are unparalleled in terms of vintage footage of jazz greats in action. Just on Monk you can see Wes Montgomery backstage at a festival produced in Atlanta by George Wein, also on screen, or producer Teo Macero and engineer Frank Laico at work with Monk at a Columbia Records studio (December 14 and 21, 1967, possibly studio A, at 799 Seventh Ave in Manhattan). In a scene similar to the one below, Roland Kirk can be seen in the kitchen at the Village Vanguard (around the 51' mark).

Do visit Michael Blackwood's website for more information on Monk and Monk in Europe here and here, respectively. They can we watched on Vimeo, here and here, respectively.

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We have very little footage, if any, of pianist Bobby Timmons and saxophonist Hank Mobley. For that reason, any fleeting moment is worth showing. In the images below, they are both seen relaxed, hanging with Monk and the Baroness. The reason why the identity of Mobley may have escaped regular viewers is that the actual footage is quite, and fittingly, dark. Here, I've had to push the brightness to the top—the film looks much nicer.

So, this is 1967, most likely June, between Tuesday 13 and Sunday 25, when Monk played the Vanguard (with Monday 19 off). We are in the hallowed site of the Village Vanguard kitchen—Max Gordon, the owner, appears at one point. Monk (49-years old), Timmons (31), the Baroness (53) and Mobley (37) are discussing the value of money and jewelry. The first voice you hear is Mobley's...

The whole sequence, focused on Monk, lasts about 2:35, and it begins with the protagonist prodding the baroness to tell the story of her family's support of the English royal family against Napoleon, to which Bobby Timmons quips, bringing the conversation back to NYC, "ain't that a bitch". Monk shows his pride in having Nica's friendship, "I tell people who you are", looks straight at the camera and says "she's a billionaire! You know the Rothschilds?"

Thelonious Monk, Bobby Timmons, Nica de Koenigswarter, Hank Mobley

This is just friendly chit-chat, and with four people having two conversations at once, sometimes it's difficult to make out what they are saying, but they go on to talk about money, and Monk muses to himself "I'm not going to be without money no more, that's over with", perhaps recalling a not-too-distant past, while the other three discuss something else and Timmons is heard saying "oh yeah, we know about that", to which Nica ribs him: "you don't know shit".

About Monk's $1,000 bill, from Robin D.G. Kelley's biography of Monk (p. 393).
This happened shortly after the scene at the Vanguard 

With money in his mind, Monk seems to show Mobley his $1,000 bill, to which Mobley replies cooly "it looks like a piece of paper to me". Among the chatter, Mobley argues the value of gold and then, as shown above, jewelery and Monk's ring. Timmons can he heard disagreeing with Mobley, "are you kidding?!" Nica directs Mobley's attention to Monk's head, and Mobley tells him:

"Give me your brains, and I'll make all the money I want to make." 

Which is significant, given Mobley's future frustration with the way his career would go. Monk seems a bit rattled by this, "is that so?" he asks twice, sceptically, moves away from the group and changes subject, "oh, but I can play the piano straight", while Mobley, with his back to the camera and still going on about Monk's bill, says, chuckling "as a matter of fact, I think they would take a $20 bill. I can take you to an area where they will take a $20 bill before they'll take that ring or a $1,000 bill, because they'll take the $1,000 bill and the ring as a treat!". Then Monk gets the floor and describes his ring, its apparent value, and how he had to make it smaller so it wouldn't fall when he played, to which Nica seems to tell him that he has tiny fingers.

Max Gordon, owner of the Village Vanguard, passing through after grabbing a bite

(With thanks to Michael Cuscuna for confirming Mobley's identity.)