a jazz ensemble of various instruments, usually brass (trumpet, trombone) and reeds (alto, tenor, and bari saxes & doubles- including, but not limited to- clarinet and flute) with rhythm section, (piano, guitar, bass, and drumset) when executed by skilled players in the act of interpreting the music of Thelonious Monk: ex. the monktet blazed brilliantly on "straight no chaser", then followed up with a delicate rendering of "'round midnight"