999,942: Thelonious Monk — Nutty

Nutty - Thelonious Monk Trio

Other versions of Monk’s songs, slicker ones with horns and decent recording equipment and John Coltrane and Monk's first name spelled correctly on the cover, are way farther up this million-song list. They sound like absolutely nothing else. They’re fantastic. They prove again and again that Thelonious Monk was a genius. But one thing those slick albums don’t always properly accentuate is the fact that Thelonious Monk was kind of crazy sometimes. Certifiably and tragically kind of crazy.

Check out old footage of him. You can’t understand a word he says. He shuffles around in a circle, even during concerts, even in the middle of songs he’s playing. Read about him. Like his dad, he was plagued by mental illness all his life. He did copious amounts of drugs, and drank like a fish.

Then listen to him play the main theme on this spare, recorded-through-a-tin-can-two-rooms-over version of this song. It sounds like he’s banging the piano keys with a couple of socks full of oatmeal. But somehow, he bangs out a quirky, catchy tune with his oatmeal socks.

Without seeming to realize the danger, he does all kinds of outrageous things, things which would kill any other jazz pianist, but coming from Monk they sound great. He turns grave, discordant mistakes into something oddly graceful.

Monk was classically trained, so he knew what he was doing. But his charm lies in the way he sounds like he's constantly stumbling, but somehow gracefully landing on his feet at the same time.