1001 Albums: #10. Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
Riverside, 1957

I have listened to this album four times in the past five days and it sticks in a way none of the other jazz records I've listened to so far have. There's just so much personality and a true willingness to go out there. There's a freedom of this that you're never going to find in big band. Again, jazz is firmly outside of my comfort zone. I've listened to a couple of John Coltrane records but that's it. Of all the albums I have covered so far, this is the first one I can see myself going back to. It's the first jazz record on the list that has an actual composer's touch rather than a conductor's touch. Brilliant Corners sounds like alchemy, like pure magic.

My whole impetus for listening to the 1001 Albums was to always have something I could put on while choring. Doing the dishes, making dinner, woodworking, hanging drywall, etc. It's nice to just throw something on without thinking. "What's next on the list? Thelonious Monk? Cool!" There's something liberating about that.