By Jack Bowers

One can scarcely envision a more daunting assignment than reframing the highly personal music of Thelonious Monk for full orchestra - but Willis Leonard Holman, one of the world's most celebrated big-band arrangers, not only welcomed the challenge, he reveled in it and set about the task with characteristic diligence and passion. The result is Brilliant Corners, a brilliant new glimpse at a composer who only now is receiving the long-overdue recognition and acclaim his music so richly deserves. This is Monk as you've no doubt never heard him before, and he surely would have been pleased by Holman's sidelong view, which pays homage to Thelonious on Holman's terms without replicating his works or fawning over them. Every composition is Monk's - Holman wisely resisted writing a "tribute" piece of his own - and each one is a textbook course in how properly to translate music written originally for groups of four or five musicians into big-band charts that snap, crackle and swing. At age 71, Holman is a master of his craft. To prove the statement, simply play any of the ten tracks on Brilliant Corners. Another reason for Holman's success is the remarkable stability of his band; everyone on this new release was present and accounted for on A View from the Side, recorded two years earlier, and most of Holman's sidemen have been with him for many years, even though the band has produced only four recordings since 1960 (and none from 1961-88). Their names, listed below, are well-known to big-band enthusiasts - a veritable who's who of the most widely admired players on the West Coast. Crackerjack soloists too, from Morgan, Perkins, Christlieb, Herrmann and Efford in the reed section to trumpeters Stout and Summers, trombonists Enevoldsen and Martin, pianist Eames and bassist Carpenter. Leatherbarrow is Holman's main man on the drums, and again, the leader knows what he's about. In fact, the rhythm section is just about perfect - which is a pretty good word with which to summarize the album itself. Big-band writing and playing simply don't get much better than this.

Track Listing: Straight No Chaser; Bemsha Swing; Thelonious; 'Round Midnight; Bye Ya; Misterioso; Friday the 13th; Rhythm-a-Ning; Ruby, My Dear; Brilliant Corners (69:04).

Personnel: Bill Holman, leader, arranger; Lanny Morgan, Bill Perkins, Pete Christlieb, Ray Herrmann, Bob Efford, reeds; Carl Saunders, Frank Szabo, Ron Stout, Bob Summers, trumpet/flugelhorn; Jack Redmond, Bob Enevoldsen, Andy Martin, trombone; Kenny Shroyer, bass trombone; Rich Eames, piano; Dave Carpenter, bass; Bob Leatherbarrow, drums.