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.

The Bridge - Sonny Rollins

Track list:

1. Without a Song
2. Where Are You
3. John S.
4. The Bridge
5. God Bless the Child
6. You Do Something to Me

Running time: 40 minutes
Released: 1962

I think this came out of a the same large multi-album box set as Beyond the Blue Horizon and Birds of Fire (amongst others). I don't know what to expect but I am hopeful that I'll find something to love here.

A very easy paced, softly backed melody kicks us off. I need relaxation this evening so this is good. I am off across the Atlantic tomorrow for a week of working States-side, and a nice chilled listen is welcome. Thus far this is very accessible and pretty traditional to my ear, Rollins' sax leading over a backing of drums, bass and keys - which appear to be some form of organ, they have that muted, electrical tone to them. Exciting it isn't, but the soft distance created by the recording makes it a sort of unthinking comfort. I am all packed, save for the things that can't go in the night before, and the wavering over whether to take my personal laptop in addition to my work one. I suspect I will, I have 5 long evenings to fill and Steam plus the potential opportunity to listen whilst away could help that some if work socials don't.

There is the inevitable shifting of focus from instrument to instrument, player to player. That staple of the jazz time, solos for all. I have been critical of this practice in the past and I like it no more here, but it is not so egregiously annoying. As Where Are You starts, it cements the idea of this as a late night, slow down sound. Lazy-paced, this opening is almost sombre. It is also very sparse indeed, and the softness of the track is a bit of a hypnotic; I feel my eyes drooping and my head nodding. It is not, thankfully, an early start tomorrow, but it is unfortunately not the best of timings with regards to buses, and a lot of waiting around is expected. The sax is drooping too it seems, it sounds tired and played out by the end of the piece. The net tune starts far too broken up for my liking - little snatches with big pauses between them. It then kicks into life, an energy and pace that was absent from earlier tunes having been found somewhere. The whole piece still feels like it is being played off in the distance somewhere though... the tones are soft and pillow like so whilst the tempo is higher the soporific effect remains. The sax again is the primary tune carrier, the centrepiece for the ear to follow, and in shutting my eyes and following it for a good few seconds I wonder if it isn't a bit much. An electrified guitar has been added to the mix, and its tones are particularly cheesy. I think this combination of the over-dominant saxophone and the cheese-tastic guitar are a bit of a turn off, and I blame them for my wandering attention. For the first two tunes I didn't find myself looking at other web pages.

Today was a decent day - low key, just prep for going away and enjoying the rugby. Just. Almost a monumental self destruct from England, but not quite. The thought of the final day of the 6 Nations awaiting me when I return, baggy-eyed, to Heathrow on Saturday morning is hopefully going to carry me through the jetlag of a first long-haul trip in a decade. The title track has the same energy as John S. but not the cheese. It is a busy little number. I am, also, apparently unable to tell the difference between guitar and keyboard; checking up on it, there is no key part, so that organ-like sound is actually the same cheesy guitar tone. What. An. Idiot. Me, not the guitar player. I find The Bridge has been and gone in my self admonishment, replaced by another slower piece. I find myself more appreciative of the gentle pace, even if some of the notes feel almost random in application - the odd jump in what is otherwise a nice theme.

Despite these out of place notes - they seem to diminish as it progresses - and its encouragement for my yawning maw (man, I knew yawning was infectious, but I didn't know reading the word had the same effect as watching someone else yawn), God Bless This Child is a really nice track. Soft accompaniment for a slide into relaxation. Just need an empty street with low-wattage lighting, a cool hat and some 50s motors parked up in the moonlight to complete the image.

The album ends with a take on You Do Something To Me; the only other version of this I am familiar with is Paul Weller's. This, as an instrumental jazz piece, is very different and if I didn't know going in that it was the same root I wouldn't be able to place it - but the metadata on the track calls out Cole Porter's composition so... I find the tune rather bland to be honest. Something about the arrangement is less comfortingly relaxing than the previous tune, even if that is just that by now I have had my fill of very standard jazz. I find myself glad when the tune drops out and Rollins' saxophone leads us out over a much reduced backing.

Overall, I don't know what to make of this record. I certainly enjoyed most of it, though in a detached, spacey kind of way befitting my head being on tomorrow's travel. That said, where I really noticed it was when it got too staid, too templated or too cheesy. I have always been particularly fickle about my music and I wonder if that fickleness isn't just putting a bee in my ear about this particular cut. I think I'm going to sleep on it before I make excisions of my own.