10. Thelonious Monk — Brilliant Corners (1957)

1. My first exposure to Thelonious Monk was on a hard drive I somehow wound up with that belonged to my friend Jackson in college. I cannot recall for the life of me why I had it (or even if it was a hard drive, vs a data CD, not that either of those things exist much these days anyhow). I recall almost none of what was on the drive. But I do recall it had a bunch of Thelonious Monk, and this was my first exposure to Monk. Jackson had great taste in music and introduced me to a lot of stuff I now love dearly. He passively introduced me to Thelonious Monk, without realizing it.
   
   I did not love Thelonious Monk.
2. I still do not love Thelonious Monk, but I can appreciate the madness at hand here. And make no mistake — this is madness. The title track here is so complicated that Oscar Pettiford on bass apparently pretended to play in studio, and it took the producer (Orrin Keepnews — great name) awhile to realize it wasn’t merely a microphone malfunction. In the end, Keepnews had to splice the track together from dozens of takes. I’ve listened to the song a couple of times now and I do not understand how that would be possible with modern sound editing equipment, much less what they had to go off in 1957. Respect.
3. Respect also to the audience Thelonious Monk was able to build sixty years ago. This is challenging music, without the obvious danceability of a Count Basie or melodic structure of a Duke Ellington. This is like Amnesiac, but weirder. The skill is undeniable, but how did this thing get discovered? I can’t fathom it was on the radio much. Live performances? I’d love to know.
4. In the end, that’s where I’m left with this album: much respect, little passion. I’d gladly pop into the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles to watch a crew try to conquer it live, but I doubt I’ll come back to it much.
5. I have no idea where that hard drive / data CD wound up; probably wherever my other hard drive full of high school and college screenplays and films went, the dustbin of history. But I can’t help but wonder what other albums were on there, and how many I might cross paths with as I continue this project. Seems we shall never know.

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