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'Brilliant Corners' exemplifies Monk's genius both as a band leader and composer. According to Robin Kelley's library of congress essay on the album - Monk did not share the music for the title track, preferring musicians to learn by ear. He also neglected to tell the rest of the band that the tune had a 22 bar, rather than traditional 32 bar structure. Only Sonny Rollins could get his head around it by the time of the recording - and bassist Oscar Read Full Bio'Brilliant Corners' exemplifies Monk's genius both as a band leader and composer. According to Robin Kelley's library of congress essay on the album - Monk did not share the music for the title track, preferring musicians to learn by ear. He also neglected to tell the rest of the band that the tune had a 22 bar, rather than traditional 32 bar structure. Only Sonny Rollins could get his head around it by the time of the recording - and bassist Oscar Pettiford was so enraged that he would 'pretend' to play by strumming his fingers over the strings but not sounding them. In the end - the recording was assembled from multiple takes - but the end result seems to bring the best out of all the players and the piece as a whole is a typically screw-corked Monk flight, as strange as it is elegant.

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01Brilliant Corners6:21

PT6M21S

Thelonious Monk

02Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are13:07

03Pannonica8:50

04I Surrender, Dear5:26

05Bemsha Swing9:28

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Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Monk Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Thelonious Monk:

'Round About Midnight It begins to tell, 'round midnight, midnight. I do pretty …
'round Midnight It begins to tell 'Round midnight, midnight I do pretty well…
'Round Midnight (take 7) It begins to tell 'round midnight 'Round midnight I do prett…
(I Don't Stand) A Ghost of a Chance (With You) (take 7) I need your love so badly, I love you, oh,…
07. Nice Work If You Can Get It The man who only lives for making money Lives a life…
Abide With Me Abide with me, fast falls the eventide The darkness deepens,…
April in Paris Coba tanya hatimu sekali lagi Sebelum engkau benar-benar per…
Ask Me Now Once you said you loved me Placed no one above me Prayed…
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea I don't want you, but I'd hate to lose you You've…
Body and Soul My heart is sad and lonely For you I sigh, for…
Caravan Night and stars above that shine so bright The myst'ry…
Dinah Carolina Gave me Dinah; I'm the proudest one Beneath t…
Don't Blame Me Ever since the lucky night I found you I've hung around…
Everything Happens To Me Black cats creep across my path Until I'm almost mad I mus…
Humph It begins to tell 'Round midnight, midnight I do pretty we…
I Don't Stand A Ghost of a Chance With You I need your love so badly, I love you, oh,…
I got it bad and that ain Though folks with good intentions Tell me to save my tears …
I Hadn't Anyone Till You I hadn't anyone till you, I was a lonely one 'til…
I let a song go out of my hear I let a song go out of my heart It was…
I Surrender Pride, sad, splendid liar, Sworn enemy of love Kept my…
I Surrender Dear Pride, sad, splendid liar, Sworn enemy of love Kept my…
I Wan't to Be Happy I'm a very ordinary man Trying to work out life's happy…
I'm Getting Sentimental Over You Never thought I'd fall, But now I hear love call, I'm gettin…
In Walked Bud Dizzie, he was screaming Next to O.P. who was beaming Monk w…
Indiana I have always been a wanderer Over land and sea Yet a…
It Don't Mean a Thing It don't mean a thing If it ain't got that swing (doo…
It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing What good is melody, what good is music If it ain't…
Just You Just Me Just you, just me Let's find a cozy spot To cuddle and…
Let's Cool One Revvin' up your engine Listen to her howlin' roar Metal unde…
Lover Man I don't know why but I'm feeling so sad I long…
Monk's Mood (Instumental)…
Mood Indigo You ain't never been blue; no, no, no, You ain't…
More Than You Know Whether you are here or yonder, Whether you are false…
My Melancholy Baby ... Volver a verte la cara ciudad despintada, no tengo opció…
Nice Work If You Can Get It The man who only lives for making money Lives a life…
Round About Midnight It begins to tell 'Round midnight, midnight I do pretty well…
Round Midnight It begins to tell 'Round midnight, midnight I do pretty we…
Round' Midnight It begins to tell 'round midnight 'Round midnight I do prett…
Ruby My Dear Shaquille O'Neal F/ Warren G Miscellaneous My Dear Chorus…
Ruby, My Dear Shaquille O'Neal F/ Warren G Miscellaneous My Dear Chorus 4X…
Solitude In my solitude You haunt me With dreadful ease Of days go…
Sophisticated Lady Sophisticated lady tryin' to change my ways Just because yo…
Sweet & Lovely Sweet and lovely sweeter than the roses in May Sweet and…
Sweet Lorraine Everything is set, skies are blue, Can't believe it yet, bu…
The Man I Love Someday he'll come along The man I love And he'll be big…
The Way You Look Tonight Some day, when I'm awfully low, When the world is cold, I…
Thelonious My heart Is sad and lonely For you I sigh…
These Foolish Things Oh! Will you never let me be? Oh! Will you never…
Well You Needn't The man who only lives for making money Lives a life…
You Are Too Beautiful You are too beautiful, my dear, to be true And I…
You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart You took the words right out of my heart, Abd it…
’Round Midnight It begins to tell 'Round midnight, midnight I do pretty we…

The lyrics can frequently be found in the comments below, by filtering for lyric videos or browsing the comments in the different videos below.

Comments from YouTube:

Thelonious Lee Dexter

7y↑80

Proud to be named after the legend himself. Praise be to real, soulfoul music.

Ida G

43w↑1

Wahou what a name it is great 🤩

Zamphyr

2y↑24

Zappa probably wishes he wrote this

Steve Mac

1y↑14

Thelonious Monk – piano
Ernie Henry – alto saxophone
Sonny Rollins – tenor saxophone
Oscar Pettiford – double bass
Max Roach – drums 1957

bob ness

43w↑3

THANK YOU for the personnel!!

Doc Malthus

6y↑66

I love Sonny Rollins' entrance. It's like the biggest badass in the neighborhood confidently entering the saloon!

Malachi Lui

1y↑2

totally. and Dos Monos turned it into one of the best hip-hop samples I've heard this year on their song "In 20XX."

Liam Watson

3y↑3

Doc Malthus 0:18 LOL

Supercluster64

5y↑4

Think of Way Out West's cover.

Juan Cruz Oviedo

40w↑4

it sounds kinda crafty, bebop soul just love it . Greetings from BA, Argentina

Thomas Boehnlein

3y↑23

This album just destroyed everything I thought I knew about jazz. Amazing album.

Michael Elkin

7y↑28

This must be REALLY hard to play. I still catch my breath when Rolllins starts his solo

BLACK SANTARIA

37w

@Mark Collins Right

Liam Watson

mugen But Ernie Henry did and that killed him. Max Roach was not on heroin or any other drugs.

WellIAmTheOne90

I gotta play it live with the band and have to learn it in like a week hahahah

Liam Watson

3y↑1

MrDaraghkinch Miles Davis kicked his addiction but he still got busted because of his race. Many blacks left America in the late 50s for Europe because they were fed up of discrimination against their colour. It was safer in France.

MrDaraghkinch

3y↑1

I heard the same in multiple documentaries. He was clean, but took the rap for Bud when once stopped by police, since Bud had a lot of trouble with the police and would have had the book thrown at him. Though not a "junkie", Monk did take a lot of Dexedrine, according to Miles Davis's autobiography. I think half the population was on uppers and downers at the time.

5 More Replies...

Q * bert

5y↑23

Gotta be one of the weirdest Monk songs ever

Gino Bramieri

2y↑4

@Douglas Crets maybe Faubus Fables, the version from "Charles Mingus presents Charles Mingus"? It similarly has frequent tempo changes, if I remeber well

Douglas Crets

3y↑2

Yeah. I always get this song confused with something Mingus did. I can’t remember the name.

Mark Collins

3y↑5

Evidence, Four in One, Tinkle Trinkle, Played Twice, Coming on the Hudson, also beautifully odd (plenty of others, too...)

Lupco Kotevski

4y↑4

The weirdest song with singing I've ever heard is 'December's Boudoir' by Laura Nyro (1968). But it is weird sublime.

andzwe

3y↑15

Producer Orrin Keepnews (who died a day before his 92nd birthday, March 1, 2015), about recording the title track Brilliant Corners: "That, probably, will stand, after half a century, as my most debilitating experience in a recording studio."

RANDY PLOTNER

1y↑3

Captures that feeling of discovering, losing and rediscovering that implacable sound only the mind can hear. Cat and mouse game.

postatility

10y↑11

Maybe the handsomest picture of Monk ever.

Demerit FC

2y↑10

jazz musics comment sections are always the most wholesome and intelligent. says a lot about the people who can appreciate this fine genre.

George Moore

4y↑13

This is brilliant!! Thelonious monk is my Favorite jazz artist. He was hearing things different from every one else.

Martin Be

Best composition i've heard across all genres of music, so unpredictable. INSANE.

brent h

7y↑14

It's great to see all these positive comments from fellow Jazz lovers. Some of the greats don't get much attention. Thanks for helping to keep it alive. MONK/ LOVE.

Lauren Chen

10y↑5

I love how Monk reforms 1940's beebop jazz with dramatic pauses and percussive attacks.

Casper Mengele

4y↑8

Felonius my old friend
Step on in and let me shake your hand
So glad that you're here again
For one more time
Let your madness run with mine
Streets still unseen we'll find somehow
No time is better than now

Akshay Delity

9y↑5

Monk just had such a unique, bebop type sound. Comparing him to others of the time, like Bud Powell, just doesn't give him credit. His compostions are recorded second most in the jazz world, and he only wrote 70. Duke Ellington wrote hundreds, if not thousands, and made first, but its a close one. To think monk had so much skill, and died so early...

willie otoole

7y↑16

First heard Monk as a kid of 14 and loved the strange difference of his music. His wife used to call him Melodious Funk - we simply referred reverentially to the great man as The Loneliest Plunk. It is, after all, a name to conjure with.

Rúad Rí

Sweet comment!

Joe Bevilacqua

3y↑6

Among the greatest classic Jazz albums ever recorded! Who are these 16 tone deaf stupidus with their thumbs down?

Pete Szkolka

2y↑3

Some people will just never get it.

Rubetube1st

8y↑4

Only a genius is able to have a mind, with such a creative capacity, to even think about getting this down on paper!! I <3 Monk

Gustavo Leite Jacovelli

44w↑3

Max Roach's transition to the higher tempo at around 5:50 , keeping the sort of "tribal feel" of the solo is awesome

avq5

10y↑1

T-Monk rulz

Hector Turolla

6y↑2

eran un conjunto fenomenal

Mike Ashenfelder

4y↑6

Monk played with some incredible drummers.

Liam Watson

3y↑3

Mike Ashenfelder Max Roach was simply the best

J. Conrad Guest

5y↑1

Theonliest!

Steve Cohn

10y↑1

Oh, how I love this tune. I find myself skatin it (to myself) at all kinds of times & places. The brake rhythm, sound dynamics that blat out and fall back. Love it! There must be dance set to this!!!

gael cornuau

8y↑3

"Brilliant Corners is an amazing accumulations of harmonics, rhythmics, and melodics musical risks. Incredible but true, the Music turn on very good. It's a musical miracle. It's Monk, simply. Respect, Admiration and Eternal Love.

Hatechicken official

💎Perfect!!!💎

tbcblues

2y↑2

The most miraculous tune of all time.

Steve Mac

Release date: 1957

Pomeray8

11y↑2

Thanks for uploading this. I'm glad I can hear most of this album, because it sounds great, and I'm going to go and pick up an LP copy of it if I can. Either way, I will now be buying it.

CristianGdC

Did you buy it?

Anthony Saran

25w

yes yes y'all

Guitfiddlejase

10y

I LOVE this...thank you for posting...too bad about "Ba-lue..."...I guess it IS like 14 minutes or so though!

Owlephant

1y↑2

20XX

TCTSNBN

11y↑1

Yes, it's unfortunate that we can't have a version of this song live--even with the mistakes. . .just to see how The Monk and his associates would have laid it down. Nonetheless, this is truley "top of the food chain" with it's "back and forth" with everyone in the band going "fast and slow." At about 2:23 Monk actually plays the theme straight up. His later transition from the "slow to fast" is much better.

bluesmanguate

11y↑1

wayyyy to cool man nice upload

Timmie Raynor III

10y

hahaah sweet!!!!!

rillloudmother

@joaon99 Really, if there were a fight, you already lost bringing your granddaddy into it.

Mark Collins

6y↑12

The 'bridge' kills me. Fucking love this tune, and this version, stitched-together or not. Monsters...

postatility

8y↑6

Among the (many) joys of this track is Max's solo.Very few drummers could have pulled off this bi-tempoed solo as artfully as he did.I could go on and on about Thelonious,but I will say he never sounded--or looked--(check out his handsome front cover photo)--better than this great session. Great,timeless music---as always....

chiporello

2y↑1

DON'T BE AFRAID OF NONSENCE

Defrance Jacques

4y↑1

Le solo de Max Roach, définitif !

atombomb31458

@rillloudmother duhh? are you inferring that ALL jazz composers revolve their pieces around these keys?? your comment makes no sense.

BRazor92

9y↑1

@whateveritsnoyes But that was Sonny Rollins at 2:24... 4:00 is Ernie's Solo

Ici 3012

5y↑3

He's born to be COOL. Everything is cool ＆ surprising in this track.

Ici 3012

Tommy Schmitz Oh my……! I was very sorry. Why haven't I heard of him……!? It's a shame……I wish I'd be able to listen to his music someday❗🎵

Tommy Schmitz

4y↑1

Thank you! My son, Tak Schmitz, is a professional musician in Tokyo... a recent graduate of some four-year conservatory ( I forget the name.) . I hope you guys get to meet sometime.

Ici 3012

4y↑2

Tommy Schmitz Viellen Dank‼ Aus Japan. 🎵

Tommy Schmitz

4y↑1

sou ne

BRazor92

@whateveritsnoyes haha, it's fine. We get the gist of it though, that was a great solo.

atombomb31458

10y↑2

@JAZZMAN671 monk--if you look at his music for enough time--and as complex as it is---revolves around Bflat E flat and F.I'm not saying thats the only thing to know--I feel u either get MONK(playing wise) or you don't. Rouse obviously got it. I have BLUE MONK,STRAIGHT NC & BYE YA down pretty well.Round MN is brutal-maybe in a few yrs

Daniel Weinstein

26w

It's Bb, Db 7, Gb, B natural, Bb. Circle of 5th's in the bridge. Way more than just 3 tonalities!

rillloudmother

@AlreadyWithThee yeah he was pissed and walked out after miming bass lines on a take or 2.

TCTSNBN

10y↑2

One of the coolest series of bank robberies that you'll ever hear.

Cripple T

TCTSNBN I just commented on your 8 year old comment. You still into jazz?

Эля Терн

Замечательный Телониус Монк! RESPECT!!

坂巻洋

28w

😀💕🌾🍀

atombomb31458

9y↑1

@rillloudmother from my grandfather who wrote and performed jazz in the 20s and 30s to generatiosn of classical music teachers in family....I have some music knowledge and experience. The fact that Monk's music revolved around Bb Eb and F isnt a duhh.Its useful info to some people who are learning and aren't snobs. Lets leave the DUHs out and be more civil.

Paul Martin

6y↑1

Thank you for posting this. I have the LP but no turntable. Monk, his compositions and the beautiful playing by all. Love it!!

Glenn Hecker

10w

If you haven't already gotten a turntable, definitely hit it now... many now have USB connectivity! If $300 is OK with you: look for Audio Technica AT-120; said to be great "bang for the buck!"

Ben Mills

3y↑1

Paul Martin I’ve got a turntable but no LP

Egi Budiana

Hatiku sedang tegang

James Somma

27w

You are a lucky man. I was more fortunate. My father as an Italian opera nut and wanted to name me Giacomo Puccini Somma. Thankfully, my mother squelched that idea. Ciao and happy listening. I love Monk.

Peter Holzer

11y↑1

Historically great piece.. Monk's composition and piano work, Oscar Pettiford's bass, Max Roach's melodic drums, sax work by Sonny Rollins (tenor) and Ernie Henry (alto). THANK YOU, Peter

Björn Janlert

1y↑1

många retar sej på hans långa "stela" fingrar .. men ja beundrar dom .. Monk har fört JAZZEN till värdefulla mål ..

Michael Elkin

7y↑1

Does anyone know where to find "Bolivar Blues" ?It's on the same album and has a solo by Oscar Pettiford that I still hum

Karimi

+Michael Elkin on youtube.

Egi Budiana

Monk tolong aku

olu hamilton

11y

Ghost music jazz.

Luis Alberto Rosales Lamarca

Técnicamente magistral.

Abraham Palmer

superb song

Laurent James

46w

« Je me revois tout gosse, beige encore, au trombone à coulisse à déchiffrer ce morceau quasi shakespearien qu’est Brilliant Corners, plein d’araignées exaltées, d’ânes aux piquets qui braient leurs tirades, de sarabandes de fous évadés, gambadantes fées sales dans un verger mouillé ! » (Marc-Edouard Nabe, Au régal des Vermines)

nobodady1

11y

26 takes

CristianGdC

25.

Yusef Endure

7y↑9

The shit...

Yusef Endure

6y↑24

@issipap "The shit" is slang for being brilliant, creative, new, pioneering, adventurous. It's Black slang, it's Black music and it's a Black thing, so live with it and enjoy the fucking music. Thelonious Monk...is the shit!

issipap

talkin bout your head?

Daniel Weinstein

3y↑3

Ernie Henry died not long after this recording. He was pushing toward something new here.

Liam Watson

16w

Too much heroin.

Daniel Weinstein

26w↑1

@mark kimbrell Ernie had potential to be among the top altos.

mark kimbrell

26w↑2

i was just thinking that---i read your comment and was thinkin,Sonny is a badass but Ernies killin it with melodic fragments that remind me of Dolphy but a totally different take on that and the trad bop and swing vocabulary plus his dynamics just draw me in.R.I.P. Ernie Henry,thank you!!!!

Al Bahilte

Sonny Rollins est particulièrement brillant et "se coule" dans la musique de Monk. Par contre Ernie Henry, qui portant est un soliste expérimenté, se montre littéralement "tétanisé" et incapable d'assurer... Cette pièce, techniquement complexe pour l'improvisateur, est un chef d'œuvre !

さかやながふみ

モダンジャズ入門のアルバムです。学生時代当時のジャズ雑誌「スイング・ジャーナル」のベストアルバムになり購入。初め何が何だかわからず失敗したと思ったのですが聴きこむに従い大好きになりました。対照的ですがＭＪＱの「フォンテッサ」も同じです。

Luis Amaya

4y↑1

さかやながふみ totally agree!

Lupco Kotevski

4y↑14

Fans of T Monk would appreciate his rock/pop equivalent, the Bronx prodigy Laura Nyro. She and Monk have many parallels apart from the relative technical complexity of their music: Nyro was also a self-taught pianist, percussive with lots of silences, and her music was too "difficult" (intense and complex) for the mainstream. Its well worth it to listen to her track 'December's Boudoir' (1968) which is still ahead of its time in the rock/pop idiom. Nyro used only top jazzmen for her first three LP's such as Zoot Sims, Buddy Lucas, Jay Berliner and some great horn players. Also the Breckers, Richard Davis, Chuck Rainey, John Tropea and others. Her 3rd LP is considered her best 'New York Tendaberry' (1969). Its very dark, stark and intense: took me 6 listens to appreciate how sublime it is. Nyro is considered an artists artist in rock/pop: she is revered by artists, musicians and producers. She occupies a category all her own, whatever that is. She was pals with Miles Davis and they did a few shows together. By age 24 in 1971 after 5 LP's, Nyro semi-retired. She wrote many of her best songs as a teenager.

drumtwo4seven

2y↑1

PROPAGANDA

Gino Bramieri

@sieteocho hell yeah... oh to think the magic band could play those crazy things! "brilliant corners" is a composite of three takes, they couldn't get it right!

sieteocho

I think Laura Nyro's more similar to Charles Mingus for the gospel, the crossover of styles and the sensuality. To me, Thelonious Monk's equivalent in rock / pop is Captain Beefheart.

Thomas Boehnlein

Oh wow. Her music is amazing. Thanks for the recommendation!

laurie winestock

Nice to see someone Connect Laura Nyro with Monk!! Love them both. Musicians who dared to take 'ONE STEP BEYOND' !!!!! LOVE IT

1 More Replies...

rillloudmother

@atombomb31458 dude, who cares what your grandpa did, for real. Most sophisticated tunes modulate through several keys, your comment about monk's music employing the most common flat keys is a super DUH. Even Giant Steps has a Eb area in it, and that tune is mostly in sharp keys Look through the real book and see how many tunes are based on the flat keys then come back and say duh, lulz.

MrDaraghkinch

Very tough tune. Even Monk adds a beat here and drops one there. Oscar and Max do very well to cover. I think you can hear hesitation from Max a few times coming out of that 7 bar B section. Does Max drops the ball at the start of the drum solo? I think everyone was lost by the end. As a friend of mine put it, "you can almost hear the Sellotape" when the melody unnaturally clunks back in. I've studied this tune for a while, but these poor guys probably didn't even have a rehearsal before recording!

Bill Pahnelas

3y↑3

It's spliced together from 25 takes.

Bartłomiej Marszałek

18w

it is bad

rillloudmother

@atombomb31458 lulz, Bb Eb and F are piano/horn keys. so in other words, duh.

rillloudmother

@atombomb31458 I'm saying most horn/piano music tends toward the flat keys, just like guitar music tends towards the sharp keys. and yes, Duh!

Taft Chatham

11y↑1

This piece is funny, and it's great, but why? It certainly defies prediction as to where the melody is going, but so does Beethoven and he's not funny. The advantage of having so much trouble with the recording may be that the musicians got to rehearse the piece more than they usually would have with Monk. Charlie Rouse said Monk was in the habit of showing them complex charts for the first time when they walked in the studio--a recipe for terror and error. 20 takes is nice.

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