Thelonious Monk is to jazz what Brian Wilson is to 1960s pop music, i.e. a musical genius. Not only did they push and shape the direction of their genres to the extent of defining them; they also both suffered from bi-polar disorder which was part responsible for their creativity and idiosyncrasies. If truth be told, I had never even heard of Thelonious Monk prior to this. Even as unfamiliar I am with jazz I had heard of some of the greats; such as Ellington and Basie. However, I was surprised to discover Monk was also considered one of the greatest jazz musicians to have lived. My ignorance is partially due to the fact that Monk’s particular sub-group of jazz, bebop (or to give it its accurate label of hard bop) is something I am entirely unacquainted with. I am officially a fish out of water here.
Growing up in New York in the early twentieth century, Monk tried hard to carve his own niche in the jazz community. By joining the bebop scene he did just that but was by no means successful, he was seen as eccentric and remained unpopular at first. Indeed, his techniques were so unique that he was considered inferior to his contemporaries. Suddenly, however, in the mid 1950s he was proclaimed a genius and held that status for the rest of his career.
Monk was important because he created his own world of music with its own rules and logic. As a performer he was very animated and quite the showman, yet it was his style of playing rather than his personality which was of most relevance. So advanced were his compositions that he was often considered crazy. Now many of these songs are played as jazz standards. He gave jazz a fresh and modern feel and along with his quintet of more than able musicians; pushed the boundaries of jazz musically.
‘Brilliant Corners’ is fast, highly complex, and difficult to appreciate at times but is a classic bebop album nonetheless. Jazz often has the wonderful oxymoron of ‘organized sloppiness’ thrown its way and it actually seems to fit perfectly to ‘Brilliant Corners’. It’s impossible to imagine how Monk sat down and thought about the overall concept and structure for this album; yet beneath the chaos there is certainly structure among the skewed melodies and truncated rhythms.
The complexity of this album is noted by the fact that its title track was spliced together from twelve incomplete takes from some of the best musicians around. The overall sound is almost jarring at to listen to at times. This is not helped by Monks use of chromatic and Lydian scales (as with a lot of jazz musicians) which basically give the impression that Monk doesn’t quite know how to play the piano, it sounds out of tune. Yet to say this is to say Picasso wasn’t much of an artist.
The album consists of only 5 pieces but is almost 45 minutes in length. It really doesn’t help that the rhythms are constantly changing; it’s really not easy to listen to. Opening track ‘Brilliant Corners’ is built around stuttered rhythms, piano and punctuated horns. It’s almost a bit too overwhelming to be honest. ‘Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues’ is a blues composition where each of the players takes it in turn to perform a solo in this thirteen minute Magnus-Opus. With it being this long, it is impossible not to lose interest, my mind always starts to wander half-way through. ‘Pannonica’ is probably the only accessible track on this album. It also sees Monk play celeste and piano at the same time, impressive in itself, and a melody that is actually memorable. Its unusual combination of instruments also gives it a rather unusual and memorable quality than others. The album concludes with ‘I Surrender, Dear’ and ‘Bemsha Swing’ with even more complex chord progressions.
Overall, I can understand and appreciate the importance of this album. However, bebop is really not for me. I know from playing jazz that it commands the utmost skill. To play jazz is amazing; to simply listen to it for pleasure, not so much. This kind of music commands full attention and I can’t help but let my mind wander at times when listening to this. Just as I can appreciate a great painting or great architecture, it’s great to see, or listen to in this case, but not something I would want to revisit anytime soon.
Standout Tracks: 'Pannonica'
Rating: 6/10
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