Something informative from Orrin Keepnews

I love jazz history. Plus, you know, June is Black Music Month.

Now, thanks to Concord Records, we can hear jazz history straight from the mouth of record producer Orrin Keepnews, whose Riverside label in the 1950s showcased the likes of Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery and Cannonball Adderley.

And the magnificent Thelonious Monk.

Embedded below is an 11½-minute video in which Mr. Keepnews recalls the making of a modern-jazz masterpiece – Monk’s 1956 LP “Brilliant Corners.” (The sessions included Sonny Rollins, Max Roach and Clark Terry.)

The composition “Brilliant Corners” was so structurally complex, the musicians could never play it correctly from start to finish. The final track is stitched together from various takes. (Click here to hear “Brilliant Corners” on my Vox blog.)

Orrin Keepnews says cutting that track was his “most debilitating experience in a recording studio.”

If you’re a jazz fan, you’ll like this: