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John McDonough, Ed
Littman, Andy Pritikin, Tom Shad, Joe Abba and Travis Sullivan are:
Thelonious Sphere Monk is our composer. |
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Wednesday Night
August 25th
9:00 PM
THE CUTTING ROOM
The Cutting Room is one of New York City's hottest new places to see live music. Co-Owned by "Mr. Big" Chris Noth, the Cutting Room is a cool place to hang out for a micro-brew and listen to the newest, cutting edge music coming out of NYC! Check out their website.
The Cutting Room is centrally located at 19 West 24th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue on the north side of the street. You can take any of the trains listed below to the 23rd street stop and we're just a quick walk away.
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Friday Night September 3rd 12:30 AM
Be a part of History, as the Brilliant Coroners play for the first time at the Greatest Jazz Club in the world-
LATE NIGHT GROOVE SERIES
Friday, September 3rd, @ 12:30am, following one of the greatest Jazz
Vocalists EVER-
Abby Lincoln
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Debut, self-titled CD available on Yeah Man Records
To Purchase, CLICK HERE! or HERE!
| 1. Sixteen 2. Blue Monk 3. Brilliant Corners 4. Evidence 5. Misterioso 6. Oska T. 7. Well You Needn't/Straight no Chaser 8. Round Midnight 9. Skippy 10. Crepescule with Nellie 11. Epistrophy 12. Bemsha Swing |
"No two ways about it,
their scalpels are sharp. Of course they're not alone in exhuming and examining
Monk. His body of work has been carved up a million ways. These guys do it with
a loving smirk."
-Village Voice
"This isn't your
average Thelonious Monk cover band. The High Priest's chunks of knotty
inspiration are infused with punk energy."
-Time Out NY
"This sextet plays some h-o-t jazz... Andy Pritikin's keyboards include some scorchin' organ(isms) (that if left to their own devices, would probably take over the world...) throughout! Some wicked alto sax by Jody Espina, kickbutt drums courtesy of Rob Garcia... some rawkin' guitars (as we expected) from Littman, as well as great bass compin' by Tom Shad... & then there's John McDonough's bigband soundin' trumpet. The title track sounds more like jazz/rock opera than smoky-room sextet, but it KICKZ... Why? The movements & shifts... not just tempo changes, there are complete evolutions going on here that allow them to rock out, but at the same time allow for the jazz to be distinct and highly original. A very cool album that gets a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from us for jazz fans everywhere."
-Improvijazzation Nation
"In the
same vein as John Zorn putting a hardcore spin on Ornette
Coleman's musc for
his Spy vs. Spy project, these delightfully twisted
jazz renegades have
tweaked Monk's music to an edgy threshold that will
outrage jazz purists
while engaging more adventurous ears."
-Bill
Milkowski, Jazz Times
"Brilliant Coroners dissects Thelonious Monk's oeuvre for the 21st century. Inspired by Naked City and the Hal Willner tribute album to Monk "That's the Way I Feel Now", they incorporate funk (Blue Monk), heavy metal (Brilliant Corners), techno (Epistrophy), hard-core punk (Sixteen, Bemsha Swing) and free-form jazz (Evidence, Skippy) for a fresh take on these timeless masterpieces."
"BRILLIANT CORONERS - These cats have a sly sense of humor and twist Monk's tunes into a variety of unexpected shapes - from jazz to rock to noise and everything in between."
-Downtown Music Gallery
Something indecipherable, yet very positive.
-John Zorn
Brilliant Coroners History
Do you enjoy Thelonious Monk’s music but feel that everyone’s playing it the same way? Tired of hearing Stanley Crouch mouth off about how “jazz” should or should not be played? Are you a young trumpeter/composer/arranger named John McDonough? Then find out how to create your own “Thelonious Monk cover band” in twelve easy steps:
The Official Brilliant Coroners 12-Step Program
Step 1: Read Stereo Review. Notice that the album That’s The Way I Feel Now - A Tribute To Thelonious Monk gets an Honorable Mention in their 1984 Record of the Year Awards. Go to Salesian High School. Casually mention to Father John Marcantonio about the aforementioned tribute album. By chance he has the album and loans it to you. Become fascinated not only with Monk’s music, but also with the fact that the music sounds like it was written by the same guy even when arranged in a variety of styles.
Step 2: Go to Hofstra University for a degree in Jazz & Commercial Music (you fool!). Meet and play with keyboardist Andy Pritikin, who shares a love of Monk’s music and a variety of musical styles.
Step 3: Listen repeatedly to aforementioned tribute album. Become fascinated with track featuring John Zorn. Start listening to Zorn’s music extensively (actually, become obsessed with his music).
Step 4: Answer ad in Village Voice for The Poppies, a really bad, retro, phony hippie rock “orchestra” that goes nowhere, fast. Meet Tom Shad, a recorder player, who’s in reality a bass player.
Step 5: Go to performance of John Zorn’s Cobra at the Knitting Factory in 1992. Nervously ask Evan Gallagher, one of the performers, to explain the piece to you. Start conducting open rehearsals of Cobra at Context studios on Ave. A in NYC, with the help of Evan Gallagher. Invite Andy Pritikin and Tom Shad to the rehearsals, as well as guitarists Roger Kleier & Bob Lipman, drummers Ron Thaler & Rob Garcia (Don’t worry - this all fits together).
Step 6: Talk with Bob about Monk. Bob casually remarks about forming a “post-punk” Monk group.
Step 7: Write out arrangements of Monk’s tunes using a variety of styles, including jazz, funk, heavy-metal, punk, and free improv. Have Andy contribute some charts, too.
Step 8: Finally form group after a 2 year wait. Unfortunately, Bob has given up the guitar and moved to France. Use Roger, Andy, Tom, Ron (sometimes Rob) yourself on trumpet, and whatever alto sax player is interested that week. With the help of Evan, start playing at the Knot room at the original Knitting Factory.
Step 9: Go through a number of alto sax players, guitarists and drummers. Finally settle on Jody Espina on alto, Ed Littman on guitar and Rob Garcia on drums.
Step 10: Consistently pack the Alterknit Theater and Tap Bar at the new Knitting Factory. Open for Royal Crown Revue and Jef Lee Johnson in the Main Space at said club. Also play as part of the 1998 Texaco New York Jazz Festival and the 1999 Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival
Step 11: Record CD. Go into massive debt getting it manufactured.
Step 12: After Rob leaves the group, replaced by Dave Anania (of the touring Blue Man Group) and after spontaneously combusting after a 3 AM Speed Metal version of Bemsha Swing, replaced by current drummer the amazing Joe Abbatantuono.
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the 12 step program. You should now be free of your boring day job. If not, repeat step 10 until job is non-existent.
Brilliant Coroners members have played and/or recorded with Anthony Braxton, Joe Gallant, Danny Gottlieb, Mark Egan, Blue Man Group, Absolut Drama, Interstellar Overdrive, Vertical Motion, Casanova, Splatt, Jessica Simpson & Ed Chang. The Coroners have been regulars at the Izzy Bar, Arlene Grocery and the Knitting Factory. They also appeared in the film Punk Rock/Heavy Metal Karaoke.
To Contact Brilliant Coroners, Click Below ~
- Bookings/Mailing List - John - Andy - Ed - Tom - Joe
Brilliant Links ~
For Ed's Music & Analog
Mastering
For Tom's Music & Blue Man Thing
www.blueman.com/ticketinfo/nyc.shtml
For Joe's Gigs & Info
For Andy's Day Camp
Brilliant Coroners
65 Hopkins Avenue, #3L
Jersey City, NJ 07306
(212) 479-8426
http://www.brilliantcoroners.com/
