1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 9. Thelonius Monk – Brilliant Corners (1957)

We are deep into the weeds of “free jazz” here, and, you know what? I rather like it. I know. Fell off my chair. 

I think, perhaps, it was quite pleasing because it just goes so off the wall, it’s not easy to predict where a track will go. Unlike, say, the more traditionally structured folky tunes of the Louvin Brothers, or the blues-originated rock and roll of Elvis and Little Richard, where if you can count to four you know when a change is due, here even the time signature breaks down in the songs. 

It’s more like elements of classical music, and quite like a fugue or similar style (maybe there’s a more accurate one. A fantasia perhaps, based on what I read). There’s a motif of sorts, but then the tune wanders off in its own direction, returning sometimes to the motif, perhaps in a broken form, sometimes (but not always) returning to the original motif. Unlike the tracks on the Miles Davis album Birth of The Cool, there’s a lot more space in the music, sometimes dropping down to just one instrument riffing on the theme or wandering off into a technical solo. 

As with other jazz offerings, it’s not always clear when just listening to it when one track has ended and another starts, especially when there are pauses in the tracks themselves. 

But, the complexity actually generates interest, because there’s nothing expected happening. It must take a great deal of skill between the musicians to manage the changes – with something simpler like blues or rock, the rhythm section keeps things driving along allowing the melodic sections to run off on solo riffs, but here the rhythm section also does its own thing. I guess if you play a lot of jazz you know the rules better, but I do wonder if sometimes a live performance of free jazz descends into a soupy mess and the musicians have to just stop and admit that they got lost? 

Anyway, I liked this one, much to my surprise.