Craft Recordings rolls out the red carpet for Thelonious Monk’s Brilliant Corners

Craft Recordings’ acclaimed Small Batch vinyl series returns this month with an audiophile pressing of Thelonious Monk’s landmark 1957 album Brilliant Corners. The LP not only introduced several Monk originals, but also features an all-star line-up of talent, including Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, and Paul Chambers. 

Brilliant Corners was recorded during three sessions at New York’s Reeves Sound Studio, beginning on 9 October 1956, the day before Monk’s 40th birthday. With Riverside co-founder Orrin Keepnews serving as producer, Monk recorded in two different quintet settings. The first featured Rollins on tenor, alto saxophonist Ernie Henry, bassist Oscar Pettiford, and Roach on drums. Together, they debuted two tributes to the pianist’s friend and patron, Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter: ‘Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are’ and ‘Pannonica’ (featuring Monk on the celesta). Several days later, the group reconvened to record another Monk original, ‘Brilliant Corners’.

The final session, captured in December, featured Rollins and Roach, with the addition of bassist Chambers and trumpeter Clark Terry. Monk led the musicians through ‘Bemsha Swing’, an original co-written with bassist Denzil Best; Monk also delivered one solo performance, selecting Barry Harris’ classic ballad, ‘I Surrender, Dear’.

Released in April 1957, Brilliant Corners transformed Monk’s career, delivering him a major comeback. The album was met with universal acclaim, and its reputation has only risen over the decades (Jazzwise placed it at No.7 in its recent 100 Jazz Albums that Shook The World book).

This new Small Batch edition aims to capture this important album with maximum fidelity – as with all albums in the series, Brilliant Corners features lacquers cut from the original tapes (AAA) by Bernie Grundman and pressed at RTI using Neotech’s VR900 compound. This one-step lacquer process (as opposed to the standard three-step process), says Craft, “allows for the utmost level of musical detail, clarity, and dynamics while reducing the amount of surface noise on the record. The limited nature of these pressings guarantees that each record is a true representation of the original lacquer and is as close as the listener can get to the original recording”.

Each copy is individually numbered and encased in a foil-stamped, linen-wrapped slipcase featuring an acrylic inset of the original artwork. The vinyl disc ­– extractable through a ribbon pull tab – is housed in a reproduction of the album’s original tip-on jacket and protected by an archival-quality, anti-static, non-scratching inner sleeve. New liner notes from historian Ashley Kahn complete the package.

“A classic album should be both era- and genre-defining,” says Kahn. “Thelonious Monk, who released LPs for an 18-year run from 1952 to ’71, ultimately delivered more than one. But there’s no question which was his first true classic – the one that still checks off all the boxes and continues to serve as a worthy introduction to his musical legacy. It is Brilliant Corners.”

Limited to 4,000 copies worldwide, Brilliant Corners can be pre-ordered today exclusively at CraftRecordings.com/SmallBatch.