Brilliant Corners by Thelonious Monk is often considered a jazz classic by lovers of the genre but a bit inaccessible by everyone else. Did you enjoy cleaning during the session?
Before we come to that I have a question of my own if I may: was the gentleman’s name really Thelonious Monk? I never thought to check.
Thelonious Sphere Monk apparently.
Sphere? Thelonious Sphere Monk. I wonder what possessed his parents to name him that?
His father’s name was Thelonious and his grandfather was named Sphere.
Well, that’s extraordinary. I once knew a chap at Oxford named Philbert Tinkle which always raised a titter but Thelonious Sphere Monk definitely takes the cake, should a cake be offered.
What do you remember about the recording of Brilliant Corners?
It was not what you would call pleasant. The first song, Brilliant Corners was just awful, just awful. The musicians spent hours and hours recording it and things were becoming heated because they seemed incapable of completing a take to anyone’s satisfaction. The whole thing was a total pudding with mistakes being made and people using the most appalling language to each other and a degree of heat under every collar. Mr Monk was becoming increasingly annoyed and at times I worried they would come to blows and I have to confess I was quite concerned for the studio carpet, which was an off-white and would have been a genuine nuisance to get blood stains out of.
Were any blows thrown?
Thank goodness no. Which I do believe might be partly thanks to yours truly. One doesn’t like to blow one’s own trumpet, as it were, but I recall making a suggestion to the producer, whose name has escaped me for the moment…
Orrin Keepnews.
That’s the chap! Wonderful name. Keepnews. I suppose you’re going to tell me his middle name was Pentagon or Rhombus. He was almost tearing his hair out in frustration and getting worked up into the most frightful state. So I cleared my throat gently and when I had his attention I told him about mops.
Mops?
Mops. I informed Mr Keepnews that I was once in possession of a mop that was sadly sporting a handle that was cracked while another had lain forlorn in my utility cupboard with a head that was becoming frayed and shedding on the flooring. I solved my problem by removing the mop head from one and uniting it with the handle of the other which subsequently gave me a fine mop. He quickly grasped the concept I was attempting to convey and using studio trickery that I don’t pretend to understand, he managed to piece together all the best sections of the tracks they had recorded into one final take.
So you saved the session?
And more importantly my own sanity. I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard Brilliant Corners but its difficult enough to put up with played correctly; wazzocked up repeatedly over four hours it becomes almost unbearable.
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