Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk recorded Brilliant Corners in three separate sessions between October and December 1956, but the title track almost failed to be recorded in a single take. The piece, clocking in at 7 minutes and 45 seconds, has an unconventional structure: it doesn’t follow the expected 32-bar format, instead using 22 bars. Monk didn’t share the sheet music with anyone, forcing the musicians to learn it by ear. Only Sonny Rollins managed to internalize it in time, while bassist Oscar Pettiford, frustrated, pretended to play without making a sound. In the end, the final version was pieced together from fragments of multiple takes, but that apparent chaos ended up highlighting the best of the ensemble.