Off Minor (Thelonious Monk) played by Chamber Jazz Consort

Danyel Nicholas
Danyel Nicholas
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Published 2021-10-27
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Off Minor was one of the first pieces I attempted to arrange for this peculiar trio, simply because it has always been one of my favourite compositions. It must seem an unlikely choice for chamber music when listening to Monk's cracking recordings of the piece. However, there is so much compositional substance in the lapidary theme and quirky changes that it supports a slimmed treatment. The viola solo is actually a transcription of the first chorus of Monk's solo on the first recording from 1947. I transposed the piece to a key the strings sound better in and found myself in quite a pickle on the soprano. The strange key aggravating the already ferocious difficulty of the piece (people like Coleman Hawkins have clearly struggled to play it) eventually brought about a consequence that later became characteristic of the music written for this trio, i.e. most of the material is written out, but not all and it should not be of importance or consequence for the listener, only for the musicians.

danyel nicholas: arrangement, transcription, soprano sax (Buescher)
Micha Daniels: viola
Roland Effgen: double bass (gut strung)
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