Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Straight, No Chaser” by Thelonious Monk:

I’ve been learning to play this song.  There’s about a million components (give or take a couple) to the genius of Thelonious Monk, but what I’ve grown to really appreciate while playing a few of his notes (on a trumpet) is the complexity he fashions out of a very simple structure and key here.  It’s basically a B-flat blues in 2/2 time, and yet he makes it lurch and wind all over the place.  It’s a song I’ll never get bored of listening to, and trying to play it seems to be endlessly fun and interesting, too.