Brilliant Corners - Thelonious Monk

Track list:

1. Brilliant Corners
2. Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are
3. Pannonica
4. I Surrender, Dear
5. Bemsha Swing

Running time: 42 minutes
Released: 1957

Recorded in 1956, which was the date I had against this, it apparently released in 1957. I don't know when it was that I latched on to Monk as my jazz pianist of choice but I did, and I recall it being a very conscious decision. I had a very limited selection for a long time (one best-of equivalent, I think) but must have finally got around to picking up more at some point because now I have a few ignored records, of which this is the first. What will putting some time aside reveal?

Studied but discordant opening, keys disconnected from the first horns we hear? Yeah, Monk. Good Friday night stuff, it being Easter and all. Grateful for the 4 day weekend, I am, and after spending too much of today in online frustration generator World of Tanks with a good friend I am running away into this listen as the evening passes me by. The first and title track comes together a bit more from the disjointed opening but I find myself surprised that it seems to have a significant section that is horn-led. The piano is quiet here, recorded lower or played softer than what is around it. This lends a strange distance to the music, as the melody is hidden behind layers of supporting structure, except when it is taken up by the brass. There is a harsh tone on the horns, a buzzing, blaring sound that I feel ill at ease with. I think it results from a spikier rhythm (tempo is up and down a lot in this piece) and the way we bounce from lead to lead. I find long tracts of the piece dull - the drum solo for instance - but other movements, where the players come together more are far more enjoyable. Overall I find it more miss than hit.

The first few bars of the follow up are more promising, a nicely harmonised brass section carrying a more accessible tune start us on a 13 minute journey. The piano comes in and is used as a form of punctuation; Monk seems to be in another world from his backing, which - per the cover - includes the last jazzman I listened to on these pages, Sonny Rollins. The spiky staccato style of Monk's playing, his personal idiosyncrasies, are what endeared him to me when I was younger - the use of the piano as a way to stand out, doing his own thing. Slowly but surely the piano comes to the fore - it happened some time back but I have only just twigged. With that carrying of the piece came a more coherent playing, more melodic and soft. This smoothness remains as and when the keys cede the centreground to the horns again. For my money this is a much more enjoyable tune than the title track, the softer edges a comfort to sink into. The bass solo rather snaps me out of that - not because it ditches the mood, but because the bass is so quiet in relation to the rest of what went before that it sounds like a fade out on the track at first. It also lasts a little too long, then appears to dump straight into the drummer's spotlight, which does neither any favour. All of this happens towards the end of the piece; we just about get enough time for the main theme to be rekindled before it closes out.

There is a playschool like tone - xylophones/glockenspiels? - to the beginning of Pannonica. The theme seems to carry over from the prior tune but this has a super-laid back feel to it, as well as a childishness from the instrumentation. Yet the theme itself feels adult, schmooze, late night club. There's something about the main melody that has me imagining lovers making eyes at each other, deciding to leave together. This feels less quintessentially Monk somehow, though his style is in evidence in the keyboard part, the consistency and theme hark to a more traditional composition. Of course, much of this disconnect is probably due to an overly romanticised portrait of the man as his own dude, formed by early exposure that nonetheless came well after his career was done, so could cherry pick. It is amazing our ability to typecast and stereotype though, truly. By the time we conclude the 8 minute odyssey, the central theme is tired and played out. This sounds intentional, and if it was then it is masterfully done.

I Surrender, Dear sees Monk's piano alone and I think I prefer it for this. I get, here, to hear the part I most care about in any piano-driven music. I get, too, to appreciate the broken play of his hands on those keys, the irregularities and shortened notes interspersed with notes held longer. It sounds, at times, like Morse code made into music - but maybe that's just me. We end with Bemsha Swing, which has a central theme that I recognise a bit more, but which is not a track I would have been able to identify by name. I find it a little unfortunate that the album was named after the opening track, as it is the weakest of the five from where I sit - so much so that I think I might be cutting it. This closer is more melodic than what has come before, with a smoother style and an arrangement that syncs up the various players better. Monk still finds room to express his staccato self. Overall this might be my favourite of the tunes... possibly because I have warmed up to jazz after 35 minutes of it rather than coming in cold from something else, but I'd like to think it has more to do with the general rounded sound and combinations on display. I feel too sleepy to offer much more comment than that though, and as the record closes I feel like closing my eyes. It's too early for bed though, alas.

Blue Train - John Coltrane

Track list:

1. Blue Train
2. Moment's Notice
3. Locomotion
4. I'm Old Fashioned
5. Lazy Bird

Running time: 42 minutes
Released: 1957

A jazz classic next. I used to be really hot on saxophones but I got won over by the trumpet. I don't think I've ever really given Coltrane the same sort of chance I did Miles Davis, for instance. It will be good to actually give this a real, knowing, chance.

The opening refrains are iconic, but I could never have placed them by name. Instantly recognisable when they hit my ear, I feel like a dunce for not being able to call to mind the sounds of this album. Admittedly it does not take long for the tune to extend beyond the limits of my familiarity, but that start is so strong. It has been a busy week, out or engaged every night except Monday. Saturday now, and it has been a pleasingly lazy day. I feel like I really ought to have found the time for this earlier in the day, but there's no real reason for that kind of self-demeaning attitude.

I find Coltrane's horn a little over-eager. The structure created by the bass and drums, and reinforced by the soft background keys, is a nice slow and steady one for the most part and yet the sax is frenetic in places - a nervous energy and pace about it that makes it hard to love. When he plays at the same tempo as the support, the quality of the tune grows and it shines. Oh, sure - you can denigrate it as "trad jazz" if you don't like the form - but to my mind one of the things about the true jazz classics is that they are accessible to a fault. Far from the ridiculous stereotypes of performers disappearing up their own behinds (which no doubt happened for some, as it does with some modern musicians) in their pretentiousness, the best and most well received, long lasting, jazz is easy to relate to rather than built around incomprehensible time signatures and self-absorbed solos.

The first couple of bars of Moment's Notice are equally very recognisable. Could it be that I have heard the openings a lot and skipped the rest? Possible. For as much as I just said the best jazz is accessible, I do find that as a rule it fits in a shuffle less well than most other forms. Here there is more urgency to the drumming and so the fast pace of the saxophony (no, I know that's not a word, although apparently it is a group; hello one-tag wonder!) is more appreciated here. I don't feel the same affiliation to these tracks as I did (and maybe will again) with those on Kind of Blue, there isn't that same instinctive connection with Coltrane's melodies. I suppose it would be fairer to compare like with like, and reference other saxophonists, but the truth is that whilst I have a best of Charlie Parker I don't really have much else driven off the power of sax. I have to say I do like the way Coltrane book-ends Moment's Notice though, the return to the same theme that opened the tune making a nice and neat closure to the track.

I suppose we should expect a track titled Locomotion to be pretty pacy, and Coltrane does not disappoint us there. I think his sax is upstaged by the trumpet with which it divides early melody duty, but I think that probably just reflects my post-teen shift in appreciation. Nevertheless this is, for me, a more engaging track. I find myself really liking the rhythm and pulse of this one, as opposed to more distantly appreciating the prior two tunes. Despite it being 7 minutes long, this is all I find the time and presence of mind to type before it ends (perhaps I was enjoying it too much to type? Lets go with that) and we shift down the gears for I'm Old Fashioned, which is - or rather was - apparently a standard. This has a nice laid back atmosphere to it which I appreciate here, and the horns are appropriately dulled and subdued. It's making me a little sleepy, but I wouldn't call that a bad thing at all. This, again, is the accessibility of great jazz all over. The pattern is instantly hooked in, the mood is consistent and supported by all parts. You could say that should be true of most music, and you'd probably be right to. It is the kind of tune I can see people not getting into, but at the same time I can't find anything objectionable about it at all.

Just like that I am on to the last track. Lazy Bird picks up the pace again and this time I feel that it strays into bland background filler territory. I am not sure why, but I fail to perceive the same craft here that was obvious through the prior tunes. Maybe it is the glass or two of wine that has gone to my head or the jolt out of the relaxed mood the alcohol and music, in combination, had achieved by the end of I'm Old Fashioned, but this tune feels far more generic at the start, and then when it devolves into "everyone needs a solo" - including bass and drums - I feel my ties to the track slipping. That said, the 7 minutes is over in a flash!

Either I was blanking out (and honestly I have not had anywhere near enough to drink for that!) or actually this album is a masterful example of sucking you in. The relatively sparse comment on at least 2 of the tracks despite them being twice the length of your standard pop song confirms my ear was pretty much hooked, and my mind with it. I rather enjoy that, even if I can't say that the album consciously stands out and shines for me. Would listen again.

Birth of the Cool - Miles Davis

Track list:

1. Move
2. Jeru
3. Moon Dreams
4. Venus De Milo
5. Budo
6. Deception
7. Godchild
8. Boplicity
9. Rocker
10. Israel
11. Rouge
12. Darn That Dream

Running time: 36 minutes
Released: 1957

You know, I had no idea this was a compilation record until I came to write this intro and found out in the course of confirming the release year. Anyhow, this is the first of three consecutive listens devoted to Miles Davis (the two discs of Bitches Brew follow). Unlike the piano, which I think I love because I played as a child, I don't know why I like trumpets so much but when played well they can add interest and depth to many different genres.

As this starts, however, I suspect that this will not be my favourite Davis album. Move has a frenetic feel to it at first, and whilst it settles down a bit it is still miles away from the laid back brilliance of Kind of Blue, which was my entry to Miles Davis' work. There is a pleasing little melody to Jeru, which has a more settled approach than the track before. This is recorded jazz, played for record. No unnecessary solo rotation here - and a cleaner presentation because of it. The tracks are all snappy and short, in total 12 of them clock in at less than 40 minutes which means there is no time for those annoyances.

I am into Moon Dreams already, and this is my favourite to date. Slower, considered and melodic, also a little melancholic. Its like the late night, after-bar walk home in a 40s movie. Its a nice little change of pace and better for the fact it is reverse immediately on the next track, left to stand. There is a nice simplicity to this, piano, bass and drums just laying a platform for the horns to wander. The faster the track, the more it veers towards a caricature of jazz. Horns all over the place, less structure than a tent after a storm and all that. For all that jazz is mocked for being all over the place, it is generally better when there is more to it than improvisations and grandstanding. The slower pieces have more definite composition and this helps them shine.

I will say, though, that I would rather not be sat listening to this now. Nothing against the music, simply more that it not the genre I would chose on a sunny Sunday afternoon / early evening. It also doesn't soundtrack the silent rugby match I have half an eye on well, however it was next on the list and - though short - completing it is another step towards getting back to the frequency of posting that I would like to. I feel severely under-qualified to comment on the merits of the music I am hearing here. I would not put money on my ability to tell one style of jazz from another, and for all that this supposedly represents the birth of "cool jazz" I have little frame of reference to distinguish it from the bebop it succeeded. 

Occasionally the clarity of Davis' trumpet kicks up a notch, a brighter, cleaner sound every now and again. These moments catapult me out of a lethargy with a piercing jolt before I adjust to the swing and sound of the current track again and a foggy mind reasserts itself.  Mostly I am enjoying this, but there are odd moments that I find myself thinking that a particular elaboration was not needed, or a given trill is out of place. However I cannot get excited about the disc and its contents, as can probably be told from the general tone of the post. After the opening I have hardly spoken about specifics, and now as we approach the end I look up and find how little I have put down in the time. Yes, the album runs short, but it is a sign that my mind has lacked clarity of purpose - a bit like some of the faster, freer lines carried by the brass.

 

Darn that Dream ends us, and it surprises me by being a song. I have no idea who is singing (I can't imagine it is Davis), but their voice is interesting - not great, not bad either. Carrying the tune in a strange half-and-half way. The backing is slow, staid and frankly uninteresting. There is a trumpet melody leading it, but it is so-so and does not sparkle. The song also appears to have little to it, and an infuriatingly long last syllable brings it to a close on a sour note. The rest of the disc was fine - better when it was slower, but reasonable at all times. Now it has finished it is farcically silent here and I feel like I just woke up. Darn that dream indeed.