Criss Cross is an instrumental jazz composition by Thelonious Monk (1917-1982), an American jazz pianist and composer who is its sole credited writer. As it has no lyrics, it exists only as music. The earliest recording found is by vibraphonist Milt Jackson, performed on 23 July 1951 and first released in 1952 on the Blue Note album Wizard of the Vibes, where the track is credited to Monk. Later versions include recordings by Sonny Criss (1956), Kenny Kirkland (1991), Ran Blake (1992), Sonny Fortune (1994), Joey Alexander (2016) and Pasquale Grasso (2019), which show the tune passing through several generations of jazz players. The composition is filed under jazz, the genre in which Monk worked as a pianist.
