Welcome to Week 4 of The Definitive Version, a new weekly feature of my website. You can read more about the project here.
Song: ‘Round Midnight
Composer: Thelonious Monk/Cootie Williams
Lyricist: Bernie Hanighen
Form: AABA, 32-bar
Standard Key: E-Flat
‘Round Midnight is said to be the most-recorded jazz standard composed by a jazz musician. (This is as compared to those composed by Tin Pan Alley composers like George Gershwin or Richard Rodgers.) It has interesting, adventurous changes following ii-V-I patterns through numerous keys, and is distinct in part for its bitonality – there’s justification for calling it both E-flat Minor and E-flat Major. Although its melody and harmony makes it clear that it was written by a jazz-minded composer, ‘Round Midnight has the AABA form derived from Tin Pan Alley.
Definitive Version: Bobby McFerrin & Chick Corea (1992) (Album: Play)
Form: Chorus melody, open improvisation
Feel: Ballad
Key: E-flat
Instrumentation: Voice & piano
Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea were on fire on this live album, which is a collection of mostly jazz standards performed live at Wolftrap and Carnegie Hall in 1990. This 8-minute long interpretation includes extensive “play”ing with feel, melody, harmony, and more. The two artists interact with and support each other in their stretching. Bobby doesn’t use the lyrics, but the emotional content still comes through in his virtuosic singing.
In the liner notes, Corea writes, “playing these 6 concerts with Bobby has been a total joy. We chased the Muse each night. We explored the nooks and crannies of our imaginations. We took each nuance and impulse as it came along and made them all live.”
This interpretation of ‘Round Midnight is about as far a departure from Monk’s original as one can imagine, but I think it captures such joy, such collaboration, such freshness that I can’t really name a single recording I’d put above it. That said, there are many, many glorious recordings of this Monk classic – so the other recordings below may offer more perspective on the tune and what these two do with it. (And also, compare the later duet version below.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyXuhNZlXkY
Also Recommended:
- Carmen McRae (1988, from Carmen Sings Monk)
- Sarah Vaughan (1973, from Live in Japan)
- Betty Carter (1962, from ‘Round Midnight) – featuring an alternate lyric
- Cassandra Wilson (2002, from Cassandra Wilson Sings Standards)
- Thelonious Monk (various recordings) – no better way to learn the tune than from the composer
- Miles Davis (1956, from ‘Round About Midnight) – again, Miles phrases like a singer.