Brilliant Corners

About

<i>Brilliant Corners</i> is one of just a few Monk recordings to feature the pianist-composer in a mentor role to Sonny Rollin, then an emerging tenor saxophone great. Rollins had made a breakthrough sideman performance with Bud Powell in 1949, and a year or so after this 1956 session, Monk would form a brief but seismic alliance with another great emerging tenor of the time, John Coltrane. There was something about Monk’s thorny writing that challenged tenor players and brought them closer to realizing their own visions as improviser. Look no further than the leadoff title track, “Brilliant Corner,” to hear the kinds of harmonic, rhythmic, and formal demands that Monk’s music could entail. The story goes that the band played take after unsatisfactory take until producer Orrin Keepnews ended up splicing together a usable one. But the music that emerges is still extraordinary: a strange and slow melody that stumbles upon itself before—surprise!—relaunching at twice the speed, only to grind to a near halt again for the next choru. Soloists have no choice but to grip the rollercoaster tightly, but they uncover fascinating secrets along the way. Bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Max Roach do their masterful rhythm section thing through it all. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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