 |  | Kind of scratching my head... |  |
..not at the album per se, but at the accolades. Only the truly musically inclined and the experts get this one. For some reason, I can't get into it. I have exactly zero music acuity and knowledge, but I own ten Monk CDs and this is one of my least favorite. I like "I surrender, dear," and "Bemsha Swing." Beyond that, the other songs are average to me. I give it four stars, because there are no bad Monk albums.
June 14, 2008This album is a must have for any monk fan.Great bassists who could really get through monks intricate writing,great horns sonny rollins, etc.They say this was hard one for the muscians to play because of its tempo changes and stylings.Never the less it was done,GREAT JOB!
March 26, 2008Brilliant Corners is probably my favorite Monk CD. That's saying alot, because I have more than 10 of them. For me, the first 3 selections are intoxicating. As great as Monk is throughout, the horn men keep me coming back to this CD time after time.
Alto saxophonist Ernie Henry excels on Bolivar Blues with a straight-forward, effective solo. One can only imagine what he could have accomplished had he not died so prematurely in 1958-less than 2 years after this album was released.
A familiar observation about Monk's music is that it is exceedingly difficult to play. While I can't confirm or deny this with any kind of intellectual depth, I do hear what sounds to me like hesitation in some parts of the tenor sax solos, esp. on Bolivar Blues. Nevertheless, tenor man Sonny Rollins is a revelation here. He seems to play most freely on Brilliant Corners; while his work on Bolivar Blues is motivational; and on Pannonica, he is stunningly poignant. The overall musical beauty of Pannonica is all the more pronounced when one considers that Monk wrote it for the Baroness Pannonica de Koeningswarter-the legendary patron and close friend to so many jazz musicians, including Monk and Charlie Parker. It also doesn't hurt that Monk and Rollins enjoyed a rare musical and personal rapport.
Those with far more musical training than I can debate the difficulty of Monk's music. But one thing is clear: as difficult as it may be to play, it is NOT hard to listen to. Hearing the collective brilliance of Monk, Rollins, Henry, Max Roach Oscar Pettiford and Clark Terry on this CD makes me a stand a bit straighter, walk a bit taller, and appreciate jazz all the more.
March 18, 2008 | | (4.5 stars) Monk does it again! | |
For all intents and purposes, this is Monk's debut album as a leader: he had issued several 78s and an album of Ellington covers under his own name beforehand, but this was his first recording of all originals. Even for Monk, this is some weird stuff, especially "Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are" (or just "Bolivar Blues", as it was later retitled) - it's amazing how he twists a genre as familiar as blues to sound totally foreign, thanks to his bizarre melody. Always the compositional virtuoso, Monk threw a curveball at everyone with the winding title track, which was too hard for any of the musicians in question: it was composed by splicing several takes together. There's also an odd beauty on the rarely heard "Pannonica", where Monk plays a Celeste. A couple of these tracks became classics, such as the joyful "Bemsha Swing" (which I believe was held over from the Blue Note years) and "Bolivar Blues". The only weak track is a dry recording of the boring chestnut "I Surrender Dear" - for whatever reason, I've never been into Monk's solo piano recordings, even though he's a great piano player. Why? I have no clue. I'm just weird like that, okay?
September 1, 2007| | | Great Packaging! Great Remastering As Well! | |
This along with "Criss-Cross" have been roundly acknowledged as among the best the Monk has ever done. Considering he had recorded dozens of albums, that's no small praise either. This version of the classic album is a work of art in itself. The mini-lp sleeve replica is very well done and it reproduces very faithfully the cover art on the original lp release. In addition, all the tracks have been very well digitally remastered so that the sound quality is really very, very good. This is by far the best version of this album that is currently out there.
Recommended for all fans of Monk and of great jazz in general.
October 2, 2006More reviews at Amazon.com ...
