"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

12 MP3 Songs in this album (57:21) !
Related styles: ROCK: Arena Rock, JAZZ: Weird Jazz



Details:
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.

The band was formed out of open rehearsals of John Zorn's Cobra at Context studios in the early 90's. (No, Mr. Zorn was not present for these rehearsals). Organizer and trumpeter John McDonough formed the band in 1994 after a suggestion from rehearsal participant and guitarist Bob Lipman, who then declined to join the band. With other Cobra mainstays as bassist Tom Shad and keyboardist Andy Pritikin, the band went through numerous (and I mean numerous) personnel changes in the other chairs, finally settling on Ed Littman on guitar, Jody Espina on alto sax, and Rob Garcia on drums. These 6 released their debut on Yeahman Records in 2001. Since the release Rob has left the group, and has been replaced by Blue Man group drummer Dave Anania.

The band has played the Knitting Factory, Arlene Grocery and the Izzy Bar in NYC, and at Northsix in Brooklyn, where they opened for Steve Bernstein's Sex Mob. The band has appeared in the movie "Punk Rock/Heavy Metal Karaoke". The individual members have played and/or recorded with Joe Gallant, Danny Gottlieb, Mark Egan, and the Blue Man Group.