Thelonious Monk occupies a special place in the history of jazz. As an avant-gardist and maverick, he first came to prominence as early as the mid-1940s and composed a body of work (now regarded as classics) including “Round About Midnight”, “Off Minor”, “Ruby My Dear”, “Epistrophy”, “Misterioso”, “Well You Needn’t”), which would later appear time and again on his albums in ever-changing interpretations. “Brilliant Corners” was released in 1957 and, for the first time in a long while, consisted almost exclusively of new original compositions. The five tracks are complex, intricate and, in a way that was probably provocative to ears of the time, modern and free. Labels such as ‘bebop’, ‘hard bop’ or ‘modal jazz’ do not apply here. Monk’s music here, as on most of his other albums, is first and foremost Monk’s music. Even 70 years after its release, “Brilliant Corners” remains, above all, edgy, unconventional and not always easily accessible – an album that demands your full attention; otherwise, its unconventional edginess can be exhausting and unnerving. So listen carefully.
