the sweet sound of dissonance
by Douglas Messerli
John Beasley MONK’estra / Santa Monica, California, The Broad Stage, the
performance I attended with Pablo Capra on October 12, 2018
Beginning as a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, John Beasley for the last few years has reimagined the great songs of pianist Thelonius Monk with, at first, a small combo, finally expanding that into a larger jazz orchestra, MONK’estra, which successfully demonstrates just how great of composer Monk truly was. Indeed, the two albums the group has recorded garnered several Grammy nominations.
For lovers of Monk’s often eccentric piano poundings and endless chordal
embellishments, it may be hard to even imagine a big band sound—with a row of
saxophonists (who double as clarinetists and flautists: Bob Sheppard, Tom Luer,
Tommy Peterson, Adam Schroeder, and Danny Janklow), trombonists (Wendell Kelly,
Ryan Dragon, Lemar Guillary), and trumpeters (Bijon Watson, Rashawn Ross, James
Ford, Brian Swartz), along with percussionist Peter Erskine, bass and acoustic
player Ben Shepherd, and Beasley, himself, sporting a Monk-like tam, at the
piano and occasionally stalking the stage as the director—yet Beasley’s
arrangements incorporate much of the punch and yet complex texture of Monk’s
works.
The night’s list of songs at the The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, a
performance which I attended with Pablo Capra, was announced from the stage,
and since I standardly do not take notes at events and I don’t know Monk’s
entire oeuvre, it’s difficult to recount all the titles. Yet I do recall Monk’s
notable Round Midnight, Little Rootie Tootie, Going on the Hudson (one of my
favorites), and possibly Dear Ruby.
There were many others; in all, Monk wrote about 70 songs.
What is totally unforgettable is the sound of this group, as if the Duke Ellington orchestra had suddenly shifted into Monk’s extreme dissonance, which, as one group member argues, “he [Monk] makes sound normal.”
The
utter talent of this group allows for a showcasing of the individuals, with a
couple of baritone sax solos (particularly of interest to me, since I played
that instrument in high school), a couple of trumpets and a trombone features,
alto and tenor sex solos, and special focuses on the drummer and bassist, along
with, of course, Beasley’s own very Monk-like piano renditions.
If at times there may seem to be a bit of sweetening-up of Monk’s more
improvisatory approach, MONK’estra does capture the spirit of the jazz legend
and reveals, moreover, as Beasley notes, how much of his work included elements
of the history of 21st-century sound, including “hip-hop, bossa
nova, Afro-Cuban jazz, funk, fusion and free jazz.”
The near sold-out performance was filled with people who couldn’t get
enough of the highly energized sounds, awarding the performers two
well-deserved standing ovations, and demanding an encore.
What I think we all recognized, despite the negative press Monk received
throughout his life (jazz critic Philip Larkin once describing his as “the
elephant on the keyboard”), as the arranger / pianist argues:
I discovered how pliable his
music is, like any great composer—
for example Bach, who sounds
great in any tempo. Monk’s music
is so open to interpretation
because his compositions have such a
solid story. I figured out how
to elongate his sophisticated melo-
dies and voice things in a
non-traditional way. And through it
all, those unforgettable
melodies just stick with you.
Even if the titles Beasley announced didn’t all stick with me, yet those
melodies are still replaying in my head this morning, and the next time
MONK’estra performs in town—they now travel the globe in their performances—I
hope to be there.
Los Angeles, October 13, 2018
Reprinted from USTheater, Opera, and Performance (October 2018).