1,001 Albums [I] Must Hear before [I] Die: 14

Brilliant Corners - Thelonious Monk

I can't remember for the life of me which Jewish holiday it was - either Passover or Chanukah - but the entire Jewish side of my family came over to my house to celebrate whatever holiday it was. I was still in High School, and I had just recently gotten into jazz and had started playing jazz guitar. My grandparents on my mother's side, both being there, and being big fans of jazz, asked me to play a few tunes on my guitar. One song I decided to play was "Straight No Chaser" by Thelonious Monk. After I had finished, my grandmother said one of the coolest statements I've ever had said to me - "I knew him. I used to see him play over on 52nd street all the time and hangout with him after his sets. I was friendly with Billy Holiday too." Wow. My grandmother, a person whose blood flows through me, was friendly with Thelonious Monk and Billy Holiday!

Extremely sadly, she died a few months ago. She was as amazing of a person as possible. I miss her tremendously. Whenever I listen to Monk or Lady Day, however, I remember her - and not in a sad way - I can't help but smile. For this reason, aside from the fact that Thelonious Monk is simply awesome, I love this music - it holds a special place in my heart.

The band is like an all-star game lineup. Sonny Rollins is on sax, and, as per usual, he is, to quote Miles Davis, and pardon my mouth (or typing fingers, I guess) a "motherfucker" (if you cut that word from Miles Davis' autobiography, I swear it would be 200 pages shorter). Clark Terry is on trumpet and is as amazing as ever. The second half of the album has Paul Chambers, Mr. PC himself, on upright bass and, as a bass player myself, I am consistently floored by his playing - this album being no exception. For the second time in these reviews I have the honor of mentioning the incomparable Max Roach on drums - and he's just as outstanding, if not more, this time around than the last.

If you are into jazz at all, I recommend you listen to this album, and pretty much anything else put out by Thelonious Monk. I don't personally have a favorite Monk album, they're all great, so I won't recommend anything over this - this would be just as good of a start as any other record if you're looking to check him out for the first time. Seven stars.