Malwina Masternak

“Bright Mississippi” Take 3

Inigo Ruiz de Gordejuela

Bright Mississippi take 3 is an alternate track on Thelonious Monk´s album Monk´s

Dream. This album was the first on he recorded with Columbia, and it was released in

1963. The album features Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, John Ore on the bass and Frankie

Dunlop on the drums. Bright Mississippi is the only tune from the album that hadn´t

been previously recorded by Monk. Compositionally, Bright Mississippi is a simple

tune, based off the changes of Sweet Georgia Brown, with a melody that repeats the

same motive adapting it to the changes. The performance in this take is very lively and

swinging, with solid support from the rhythm section and great ideas from the soloists.

In the introduction, Monk plays the last 16 bars of the tune in block chords by himself.

The voicings are very specific, which he also uses in Take 1 of the same recording. The

introduction was probably planned; it is a strong statement of the melody and sets up

the mood for the song. Generally he keeps the same left hand shape for each chord

and changes the right hand voicing during the intro.

The head is played by Rouse on a high register, with an articulate and aggressive

sound. Monk doubles and harmonizes the melody with a very similar articulation,

which creates an homogeneous texture, while playing some characteristic fills on the

spaces. Dunlop also reacts to these spaces in the melody fill and provides a forward

motion. The saxophone solo really fits the tune and the style, with some of the melodic

material being very similar to Monk´s. It is rhythmically and motivically well developed,

and the way he treats the harmony of the tune is comparable to how Monk would do
it, using whole tone motives, tritone and 5th leaps, and developing small rhythmic

cells.

Monk´s solo in this take is definitely one of my favorite of his solos. It begins with a

motive in the upbeats which develops into a very chromatic 8th note line. The comping

is rather simple but intense, with fifth intervals on the left hand, almost sounding like a

snare drum. He then plays two almost identical lines extracted from an Eb7 voicing.

One of the devices Monk uses to

create interest in his solo is starting

the same motive in different parts of

the beat. In bar 35 he goes back to

the upbeat motive and to the chromatic line. Again he plays off the voicing, this time

Bb7 in bar 37, and begins a new episode of placing a motive in different parts of the

bar. It is a very symmetrical structure, where he introduces elements periodically, with

almost identical shapes but different notes. In bar 41 he begins a new idea, repeating a

motive and changing just one note at a time, accenting that note specifically. The

passage that goes from bar 49-57 uses the same rhythmic motive but creates a very

clear melodic direction. After a couple bars of 4th and 5th leaps on the right hand we

arrive at one of the most interesting moments of the solo. In bar 64, instead of playing

a full 4/4 measure of C7, monk anticipates the resolution to Fmin7 and he creates a de

facto 2/4 bar, which the other band members follow immediately. It almost sounds

like the recording has been cut or edited, but listening closely one can tell how fast the

drummer and bassist reacted to Monk´s anticipation. This bar of 2/4 actually makes

that moment swing hard and push forward. In bar 73 Monk begins to introduce fast
repetitive licks in chunks of 2 bars, resolving them in the following 2 bars. These

passages are the most memorable from the solo, because of how precisely he

performs them and due to the rhythmical interest they hold.

In bar 85 he does the same thing but with a 3 cross rhythms

And keeps going for another 4 bars a 5th up using the whole tone scale.

These are the main elements that he uses as building blocks for his solo. He keeps

developing using the upbeats motive (104.105), placing cells in different parts of the

bar (93-96) and playing off voicings (97). In bar 131 he quotes the descending whole

tone motive. The solo ends with some strong harmonized rhythmic hits that work as a

counterpoint to the rhythm section.

The bass is very conservative in this take, playing simple quarter note lines that clearly

outline and support the harmony. One notable moment from the bass player is how he

reacts to the 2/4 bar, fixing it with high precision. Frankie Dunlop reacts vigorously to

Monk´s use of space and even plays some interesting cross rhythms in bars 33-36.

Transcribing this solo was hard task given the complexity of Monk´s lines and his use of

rhythm. It was a great learning experience.