#Thelonious monk best album plus#

Although РІР‚СљBolivarРІР‚Сњ may not be as radical as the album opener, it still leaves plenty of room for РІР‚ВMonkishРІР‚в„ў off-kilter solos and slippery interactions. This is followed by the laid back avant-blues of РІР‚СљBa-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-areРІР‚Сњ. This composition has Monk working with rapidly changing tempos and time signatures, such things may be more common today, but this was fairly new ground in 1957, and РІР‚СљCornersРІР‚Сњ still sounds very modern and РІР‚Вcutting edgeРІР‚в„ў today. The album opens with the title cut РІР‚СљBrilliant CornersРІР‚Сњ, and what a tour de force this one is. Clark Terry and Paul Chambers replace Henry and Pettiford for one cut, but they too are up for the great interplay that goes down on this disc.

#Thelonious monk best album plus#

Monk does have a particularly strong crew assembled here, with Sonny Rollins and Max Roach on board, plus Ernie Henry and Oscar Pettiford are no slouches either. DonРІР‚в„ўt expect a lot of fireworks from this one though, instead, most of these blues based tunes are played in laid back medium tempos, or even slower, but do expect maximum creativity and a brilliant ensemble that moves together as one mind. Not only is РІР‚СљBrilliant CornersРІР‚Сњ one of Thelonious MonkРІР‚в„ўs best albums, but its also considered one of the better recordings in the history of jazz. This may not be the top record that Monk put out, but it holds up well against many of his best. Side two opens with MonkРІР‚в„ўs trio playing РІР‚СљNuttyРІР‚Сњ, a piece that appears on many Monk recordings, and closes with his quintet playing another odd Monk favorite, РІР‚СљFriday the 13thРІР‚Сњ, on which Rollins shows he can easily handle MonkРІР‚в„ўs peculiar musical creations. Side one opens with Rollins joyfully flying over two well known upbeat standards, and closes with the Monk trio playing a lesser known Monk original, РІР‚СљWorkРІР‚Сњ, that is quite abstract compared to the two openers. The choice of tunes on here is also good.

The Monk trio cuts feature Art Blakey on drums, whose short solos are inventive displays of metric trickery and phrase manipulation that is a perfect compliment to MonkРІР‚в„ўs approach to music. Rollins is also in fine form, supplying endless melodic variations over MonkРІР‚в„ўs more blunt and percussive accompaniment. The playing on here is brilliant, MonkРІР‚в„ўs career was nearing a peak and he sounds relaxed and happy, far different from the inconsistent performances that came much later in his career. The track order on this record mixes these sessions up in a way that makes total sense and adds to the feeling of a congruous record. The last session was in October РІР‚В54 and featured the RollinsРІР‚в„ў quartet, of which Monk was the pianist. The second session was in September РІР‚В54 and featured MonkРІР‚в„ўs trio sans Rollins of course. The first recording session for this record took place in November 1953 and featured the Thelonious Monk Quintet, of which Rollins was a member. The truth is, with about 18 minutes on the first side and 16 on the back, it falls sort of in between, but possibly closer to an LP. Some РІР‚ВexpertsРІР‚в„ў call this an EP, while others call it an LP. Such records are often unsatisfactory, but this one is different as it presents a very coherent musical vision. РІР‚СљThelonious Monk/Sonny RollinsРІР‚Сњ is one of those thrown together affairs pulled from three different sessions, in fact Rollins does not even appear on every track.