Customer Reviews

Brilliant Corners: Music of Thelonius Monk

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This is a wild album. Even if you are familiar with the music of Thelonius Monk, get ready for plenty of surprises. All of the charts are recent save "Rhythm-A-Ning" which dates from the late '70's, though you'd hardly know it.

Bill's arrangements have always managed to reward both critical listeners and the less sophisticated alike, with intricate counterpoint, rhythmic subtlety, advanced harmonies, and rich timbral shadings coexisting with readily apparent form and swinging forward motion. This recording is perhaps a bit more challenging than most big band outings, Holman's included, but well worth the attention of open ears and minds.

From the opening cut "Straight No Chaser", a popular small group tune but rarely found in big band books, we realize soon we're not in Kansas anymore. The line itself eventually puts in an appearance to great effect near the end. The liner notes suggest influences from Bartok at work, although I'm not so sure. It works splendidly in any case.

There are many other highlights: the melody of "'Round Midnight" stated initially by bass clarinet, played with great expressiveness by Bob Efford; many fine solos including Bill Perkins heard on alto, Ron Stout and Bob Summers sharing trumpet solo duties, and Pete Christlieb's ever exciting tenor.

But the main rewards for me are in the writing which continues to amaze, nowhere less than the final and title track. Bill Holman's creativity and daring show no sign of flagging and should inspire us all. Thanks to all involved, and especially JVC, for enabling a project like this to happen. Highly recommmended.

Few arrangers have dealt with Monk's music, and none have treated it so exceptionally as Bill Holman. The liner notes for the CD are right on: the previous big band treatments of Monk's music have simply been orchestrations of Monk's solos, plus space for new soloists. Bill Holman, however, does what a true jazz arranger should do: be faithful to the composer, yet inject new life into the music. It's 100% Thelonius Monk and 100% Bill Holman. The performance by Holman's band is amazing. The recording quality is among the best I've ever heard. You will keep this one in your CD player for a long time, and won't be able to get enough!

To begin, I've never had a refined enough ear to fully appreciate Monk, despite my untutored appreciation for the vast innovations and expansions he brought into jazz. Further, I was somewhat apprehensive upon opening this disc--it was the only Holman in the store when I was first motivated to get into him, having heard on the radio a couple of tracks from another album that truly hooked me. My first hearing of this disc was one of the most genuinely apocalyptic experiences of my life, so addictive in its multi-textured layerings of sound, so indefatigably passionate in its execution, so precise, so together, so perfect in every way. In the past I've noted my general difficulty in listening to a disc straight through, but this was one of those rare moments in which I could not touch the previous or next track button on my remote--it was that mesmerizing a listen.
I continue to think of Bill Holman as the uncrowned king of contemporary large ensemble music, and in retrospect, the success of Natalie Cole's "Unforettable" album, arranged and conducted by Holman, should never have seemed a surprize. My only complaint about Holman is that it's been too long since his last production. I've tried to search for more of his stuff , but it just ain't out there. Although my life is greatly enriched by his few albums, I just wish there were more coming from him. I probably listen to something by him every day, and I really can't say that about too many, if any, other artists.
My sentiments above duly registered, I also love this album. Not particularly sympathetic to avant-gardist "blue" notes, I was enthralled by the "tonal counterpoints," even more by the relentlessly perfect sense of rhythm and timing. EVERY tune insinuates itself into your consciousness, with its ever-expanding layers of sound providing an almost three-dimensional raid upon your sensibility. And like the greatest art, it manages both to tease the listener into liking the difficult and new, managing to both entertain and educate.
I have not expanded by much my collection of Monk, but I have come to regard him with a fonder ear, thanks to the seductive charms of Willis Leonard Holman, whose reconstruction of some of the jewels of the Monk canon should come as no surprize to anyone remotely familiar with Holman's genius.

This is a straight-up masterpiece.

If you are in the least open-minded to big band jazz, this is worth tracking down. (I found it in the public library...can you say Inter-Library Loan?) I don't know what this XRCD technology is that JVC uses here, but it sounds gorgeous in my ordinary 10-year-old Marantz CD player, and it should be illegal to shrink these tracks down to mp3. The band plays superbly, with energy and touch, and the arrangements are as good as anything Gil Evans, or whoever you want to name, ever did.

It might not be good driving music, and it's definitely NOT good background music, but if you have a room where you've got a listening chair properly positioned between two pretty decent speakers, you really should take this disc for a spin. Your system will love you for it.

Foi o amigo JoFlavio, conspícuo membro do dilucidante blog Charuto Jazz, quem veio com a estória de que Thelonious Monk não sabia tocar piano. São dele as seguintes linhas: "Acompanho a carreira do Monk desde o início da década de 60. Não só como pianista, mas principalmente como compositor. Monk chegou a ser considerado um "pianista menor", talvez pela técnica pobre, que até o impossibilitava de tocar em "up tempo" - se comparado, por exemplo, a um Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, etc. Era nítido o esforço dele em tocar. Sim, como consolo, foi criativo harmonicamente. O grande legado de Monk está nos temas que compôs, de certo modo revolucionários para a época. Como pianista, em minha opinião, não fez escola." Ora, ora. Não demorou um minuto, estava desencadeada uma das maiores polêmicas já suscitadas aqui no Jazzseen, alvoroço geral, acusações gratuitas, ataques de hackers, celeuma, cizânia e crise. Convocamos, às pressas, eu e Reinaldo Santos Neves, Reunião Extraordinária do Clube das Terças, onde o sócio André, especialista em Monk, fora convocado a falar. Um silêncio incômodo sentou-se à mesa do Clube, enquanto todos aguardavam aflitos a definitiva sentença. André disse: "A ênfase no bebop é a improvisação, sendo rara a presença marcante de compositores, caso de Thelonious Monk. Suas melodias nada ortodoxas, repletas de progressões complexas de acorde, costumavam intimidar até mesmo os mais ágeis instrumentistas e não resta dúvida de que seu estilo influenciou uma série de pianistas importantes do bebop e do post bop, entre eles Bud Powell, Mal Waldron, Andrew Hill, Dollar Brand, Randy Weston, Herbie Nichols, Cecil Taylor, Misja Mengelberg, Anthony Davis, Karl Berger, Chick Corea, Geri Allen, todos eles réus confessos, no sentido de que, além de reconhecerem a influência de Monk, refletem ou refletiram em alguma fase de suas carreiras nítida inspiração na abordagem pianística monkiana - o iniciante deverá começar suas pesquisas por Mal Waldron. Sem falar de tantos outros músicos que lhe dedicaram tributos entusiasmados (veja lista abaixo) e diversos grupos que nasceram sob a condição primária de lhe revisitar a obra.

As composições de Monk apresentam lógica própria, não-aristotélica, elaboradas com grande precisão estrutural e concisão, fato incomum nas demais composições do bebop. Mestre em acentuações inesperadas e desordenadas - veja, por exemplo, Rhythm-n-ing - causava sérias dificuldades a quem pretendesse executar suas obras, mesmo aos mais hábeis virtuoses do piano. Tal característica transparece sobremodo no final das frases, onde quase sempre a nota tocada era absolutamente inesperada pelo ouvinte que, paradoxalmente, ao continuar ouvindo a composição, terminava por suplicar que a frase terminasse com a tal "nota errada" - ouça, por exemplo, Off Minor. E tudo isso partindo de uma melodia singela, um tema simples, muitas vezes construído sobre um acorde do bom e velho blues de doze compassos, mas com um profundo efeito final. E, para quem conhece a trajetória de Monk como pianista, sabe de suas intervenções especulativas. Ele passeou pelo stride de um Fats Waller, pelo trumpet-piano de um Earl Hines, pelo piano soturno e percussivo de um Duke Ellington, pelo comping style de um Count Basie, onde discretos acordes davam suporte ao solista. Ao contrário de Bud Powell, que na evolução do comping style praticamente abandonou a mão esquerda, que na prática apenas acompanhava sua velocíssima mão direita, Monk seguiu um caminho distinto, que poderíamos chamar de "evocativo", porque os acordes de sua mão esquerda assumiam papel fundamentalmente percussivo e nunca eram longos em permanência: em várias passagens podemos observar que Monk simplesmente parava de tocar, deixando que baixo e bateria acudissem o saxofonista ou o trompetista em seus solos. Tanta originalidade fez com que, antes de ser reconhecido como o improvisador genial que foi, Monk fosse considerado um "pianista menor" e impossível de ser classificado: ele não tocava swing, ele não tocava bebop. Que diabos ele tocava?

Monk, com suas composições "desafinadas", era capaz de fazer um piano desafinado soar afinado. Cheias de contornos imprevisíveis aos ouvidos da classe média, suas composições apresentam escalas inteiras totalmente incompatíveis umas com as outras, com tonalidades inimigas. Combinadas com um estilo rítmico absolutamente inovador, estas características harmônicas causavam um imenso rebuliço nos ouvidos mais educados. E, por último, mas igualmente genial: a utilização do silêncio em Monk é tão importante quanto a utilização do som. Quando o observamos tocar, temos a clara certeza de que ele nunca sabe qual nota vai tocar. Vacilante, ele parece sofrer terrivelmente, a cada segundo, para se decidir em qual tecla levará seu dedo. E, não raro, quando se decide, bate, bate, bate, como se estivesse batendo em nossa porta. E entra.

1957 - Vários - Round Midnight - Milestone M9144

1958 - Steve Lacy - Reflections: Steve Lacy plays Thelonious Monk - New Jazz OJCCD-063-2

1960 - John Lewis Presents Jazz Abstractions - Atlantic 1365

1961 - Bud Powell - A Portrait of Thelonious - Columbia CK 65187

1961 - Johnny Griffin - Lookin' at Monk - Jazzland JLP 939S

1963 - Bill Evans: Conversations with Myself - Verve 521-409-2

1963 - Steve Lacy - School Days - Emanem 3316

1967 - Enrique Villegas Trio - Tributo a Monk - Trova TL12

1969 - Steve Lacy plays Monk - Affinity AFF 43

1978 - Heiner Stadler - A Tribute to Monk and Bird - Tomato TOM-2-9002

1981 - Chick Corea - Trio Music - ECM-2-1232

1981 - Interpretations of Monk - Volume 1 - KOCH Jazz - KOC CD-7838 - Disc 1 - Muhal Richard Abrams set - Disc 2 - Barry Harris set.

1981 - Interpretations of Monk - Volume 2 - KOCH Jazz - KOC CD-7839 - Disc 1 - Anthony Davis set - Disc 2 - Mal Waldron set.

1981 - Bennie Wallace Plays Monk - Enja ENJ-30912

1982 - Milt Jackson - Memories of Thelonious Sphere Monk - Pablo OJCCD 851-2

1982 - Sphere - Four in One - Elektra Musician 7599-60166-1 7599-60166-1 - Excelente tributo, gravado no dia em que Monk morreu, 17 de fevereiro de 1982

1982 - Tommy Flanagan - Thelonica - Enja CD 4052-14

1984 - Kronos Quartet - Monk Suite: Kronos Quartet plays music of Thelonious Monk - Landmark CD LLP-1505

1984 - Vários - That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk - A & M SP-6600

1985 - Steve Lacy - Only Monk - Soul Note SN 1160

1986 - Woody Shaw - Bemsha Swing - Blue Note 7243-8-29029-2-8

1987 - Anthony Braxton - Six Monk's Compositions - Black Saint 120 116-2

1987 - Walter Davis, Jr. - In Walked Thelonious - Jazz Heritage MHS 512631H

1988 - Carmen McRae - Carmen sings Monk - RCA Novus - 3086-2

1988 - Charlie Rouse - Epistrophy - 32 Jazz CD-32029

1988 - Stan Tracey Quartet - Tribute to Duke, Monk, and Bird - Emanem 3604

1989 - Randy Weston - Portraits of Thelonious Monk - Verve 841313-2

1989 - Steve Lacy - More Monk - Soul Note 121210

1990 - Marcus Roberts - Alone with Three Giants - BMG 3109-4-N

1990 - Mel Martin - Bebop & Beyond plays Thelonious Monk - Blue Moon CD R2 79154

1990 - Tete Montoliu - The Music I Like to Play Vol. 3 - Let's Call This - Soul Note 121230

1992 - Steve Lacy - We See - Hat Art CD 6127

1992 - Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron - I Remember Thelonious - Nel Jazz NLJ0959-2

1993 - Riverside Reunion Band - Mostly Monk - Milestone MCD-9216-2

1994 - Sonny Fortune - Four in One - Blue Note CDP 7243-8-28243-2-9

1994 - Steve Duke - Monk by 2 - Columbia CK 66975

1994 - Wynton Marsalis - Standard Time Vol.4: Marsalis Plays Monk - Columbia CK67503

1995 - Knut Kristiansen - Monk Moods - ODIN NJ 4051-2

1996 - Danilo Perez - Panamonk - Impulse CD IMPD-190

1996 - Vários - Round Midnight: Hommage à Thelonious Monk - Columbia COL 481331

1997 - Esbjörn Svensson Trio - EST Plays Monk - ACT 9010-2

1997 - The Bill Holman Band - Brilliant Corners: The Music of Thelonious Monk - JVC Classics CD 2066

1997 - Jessica Williams - In The Key Of Monk - Jazz Focus CD JFCD029

1997 - Fred Hersch plays Thelonious Monk - Nonesuch CD 79456-2

1997 - Miya Masaoka - Monk's Japanese Folk Song - Dizim Records 4104

1997 - Steve Slagle Plays Monk - Steeplechase SCCD 31446

1997 - T.S.Monk - Monk on Monk - N2KE-10017

1997 - Vários - It's Monk's Tune - Jazzfest 3-2203-2

1997 - Vários - For the Love of Monk - 32JAZZ 32008

1998 - Mike Melillo Trio - Bopcentric - Red Records RR123279

1998 - Andy Summers - Green Chimneys - RCA Victor-63472

1999 - The Dave Liebman Trio - Monks Mood - Double Time Records 154

1999 - Per Henrik Wallin Trio - 9.9.99 - Stunt Records STUCD 00202

1999 - Larry Coryell - Monk, Trane, Miles & Me - High Note HCD 7028

1999 - Vários - Blue Monk: Blue Note plays Monk's Music - Blue Note 8-35471-2

2000 - Vários - For Monk: a tribute to the music of Thelonious Monk - BMG D116733

2003 - Jessica Williams - More For Monk - Red & Blue

2004 - Thelonious Moog - Yes We Didn't - GrownUp Records 62988

2004 - Alexander von Schlippenbach - Light Blue: Schlippenbach plays Monk - Enja CD 9104-2