Taking up the tenor saxophone after learning the clarinet, by his late-teens, Charlie Rouse was proficient enough to be hired by Billy Eckstine for his bebop-orientated big band. Thereafter, Rouse played with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, and subbed for Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In the early '50s, he played and recorded with numerous small groups, including those led by Clifford Brown, Art Farmer, and Oscar Pettiford. In 1958, he began a long and fruitful association with Thelonious Monk which lasted until 1970. During this period he also made recordings with Donald Byrd and Benny Carter, appearing on the latter’s FURTHER DEFINTIONS. After spending the '70s as a freelancer, in 1982 he formed the Monk tribute group, Sphere, alongside Kenny Barron, Ben Riley and Buster Williams.