Bemsha Swing

Bemsha Swing is a jazz joint composition by Thelonious Monk and Denzil Best from the year 1952. It is one of the most popular compositions Monks and has become a jazz standard. The name " Bemsha ", originally " Bimsha " is a phonetic spelling of " Bimshire ", meaning "Little Bimshire " meant. "Little Bimshire " is a colloquial name for Barbados, where Best was born.

Characteristics of the song

Bemsha Swing is usually played with a dominant swing -beat (quarter note Swing). The song has a riffartiges theme with 16 bars in the song form AABA. It can also be seen as " a rhapsodic blues in 8 bars, really only an issue on C major, which is again just transposed in F major. " Ralf Dombrowski According arises " the peculiar charm of the subject by ... the whole-tone scale on which it is based and which keeps the melody in the balance between minor and major expectation. "

Recordings by Monk

The first photo was taken on December 18, 1952 next to Monk on piano played Max Roach on drums and Gary Mapp on bass ( an amateur musician who was a policeman in the main job). The piano was "mercilessly tune, " although it is unclear whether this was possibly intended. " Since Monk the piece in the original recording nor with seconds and all sorts of dissonant ornaments " embellished and Roach drummed sometimes quite wild, " the song seems like a parody of the emphatic exaggerated aesthetic genius of the late bebop euphoria. "

Monk retained the title later in the repertoire, and took him several times to new (Brilliant Corners, Misterioso ), also in 1954 with Miles Davis ( Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants ); it is also included on a live recording of Monk's quartet in 1963 from Japan (Tokyo Concert).

Other recordings

Cecil Taylor played the song 1956 ( Jazz Advance ) a. John Coltrane chose the title for his album The avant-garde, where Don Cherry was involved; the two " interpretations of the topic exactly with the humorous dryness that it deserves." More pictures were taken, for example by Geri Allen, Don Cherry / Ed Blackwell, Bill Evans, the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Hal Galper, Jim Hall, Bobby Hutcherson, Keith Jarrett and Max Roach. In 2002, the fusion guitarist Larry Coryell coverte the piece on his album " Cedars of Avalon". But even outside of jazz context was the song validity: Andy Summers took him on as well ( Green Chimneys ) as Elliott Sharp; ( Sharp Sharp Monk Monk, 2006? ! ) Red Hot Chili Peppers had the song 1989/1990 as FU in the tour program (out in L.A. ).

The interpretation of the piece by Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell has also been reflected in the literature. In several thrillers of Janwillem van de Wetering is Brigadier de Gier and Adjutant Grijpstra take the Bemsha swing a model for her own jazz playing.