Thellonious Monk - Brilliant Corners (1957)

Thelonious Monk (1917 – 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer, considered like Art Blakey to be one of the giants of American music. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk only wrote about 70.

Brilliant Corners was the 3rd album monk recorded after being signed to the Riverside Records label (his 2nd label), Monk was highly regarded by his peers and by some critics, but his records remained poor sellers, and his music was still regarded as too "difficult" for the mainstream audience. Indeed, with Monk's consent, Riverside had managed to buy out his previous contract for only $108! On the LP which recorded in late 1956, Monk mainly performed his own music. The complex title track, which featured saxophonist Sonny Rollins, was so difficult to play that the final version had to be edited together from multiple takes. The album, however, was largely regarded as the first success for Monk; according to Orrin Keepnews, "It was the first that made a real splash."

The album was recorded in three sessions in late 1956 with two different quintets. "Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-Are" and "Pannonica", on which Monk played the celeste, were recorded on October 9 with saxophonists Ernie Henry and Sonny Rollins, bassist Oscar Pettiford, and drummer Max Roach.

On October 15th, Monk attempted to record the title track with the same band during a four-hour session. However its complexity proved to be a challenge for Monk's sidemen, who attempted twenty-five takes, and led to tension between himself and both Henry and Pettiford, who exchanged harsh words with Monk during the session. Monk tried to make it easier on Henry by not playing during his alto solo. During one of the takes, producer Orrin Keepnews and others in the control room could not hear Pettiford's playing and checked his bass microphone for a malfunction, but ultimately realized that he was pantomiming his playing. Without a completed single take, Keepnews ultimately pieced together the album version from multiple takes. "Bemsha Swing" was recorded on December 7th with Paul Chambers on bass and trumpeter Clark Terry, who replaced Henry, and Monk recorded a solo piano version of "I Surrender, Dear" at this session.

Tracklist:

1. Brilliant Corners (7:42)
2. Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are (13:24)
3. Pannonica (8:50)
4. I Surrender, Dear (5:25)
5. Bemsha Swing (7:42)

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