Brilliant Corners
by Thelonious Monk
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Thelonious Monk bestography
Brilliant Corners is ranked as the best album by Thelonious Monk.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Brilliant Corners on YouTube
Brilliant Corners track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Brilliant Corners rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | leniad | Top 301-400 Greatest Music Albums | 97/100 | - |
| 2026 |  Helios | Top 20 Music Albums of 1957 | 20/20 | 0 |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 18/100 | 17 |
| 2026 |  videoheadcleaner | videoheadcleaner's 101-200 | 23/100 | - |
| 2026 | PurpleHazel | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 27/100 | 72 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 31 Music Albums of 1957 | 1/31 | 5 |
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 9 Music Albums of 1957 | 9/9 | 1 |
| 2026 | jdizzle123456 | Greatest Jazz Albums of All Time | 26/50 | - |
| 2026 | downandout | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 12/100 | 18 |
| 2026 | byuzak | Top 43 Music Albums of 1957 | 2/43 | 5 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 373 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 2,923 | |||
Brilliant Corners collection
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Brilliant Corners ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 391 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 5 days ago | OldWiseOne1969 | 160 | 82/100 |
| ! | 09/22/2026 18:54 | Chorongo | 56 | 91/100 |
| ! | 08/27/2026 16:50 |  HoldenM | 1,904 | 84/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 81.0/100, a mean average of 79.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.6.
Brilliant Corners favourites
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Brilliant Corners forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5431): By Amirkhosro BestEverAlbums 06/30/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5359): By PurpleHazel BestEverAlbums 12/01/2025 17:03 in Monthly overall chart movements - November 2025Brilliant Corners comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Space-Dementia 03/04/2016 02:10 | #161223 | TOP COMMENT
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The core melodies of each song are great, but the solos go a little too much off track, in my opinion, to the point where you just want the solo to stop so the main melody can play again. That being said, it was still a fun listen and Monk is definitely a very talented musician.
lancashirearab TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/12/2012 07:00 | #40015 | TOP COMMENT
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I love this album. I bought my first Monk album after reading a NME obituary in 1982. He sounded great and the album did not disappoint. There was a great picture that went with the article and it was framed and lived on my walls until it got badly damaged around 10 years ago.
Fischman TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/30/2018 14:47 | #228335 | TOP COMMENT
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My favorite Monk; full of his melodic and harmonic inventiveness, yet highly listenable throughout the program. (Edited)
The piano playing on this release is simply phenomenal and Monk commands this album right from the opening track. There is a lot of high quality content for us to dive into on here which starts right from the off with the best track on the album which is Brilliant Corners. The complexity of the song and the genius performances we are treated to are exceptional. What a way to start an album and it sets an example for the rest of the cuts to follow. No song manages to top it but a few come close. One of my favourites is the softer track Pannonica, I find myself getting drawn back to hear this over and over again. The percussion goes under rated as well and dominates songs like the closing track and elevates it to another level. Overall, a recording full of outstanding musical prowess with Monk firmly at the helm as he guides on an experience of jazz greatness.
2nd-Impressions 09/23/2020 21:00 | #258606 | TOP COMMENT
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Aside from the title track, which on it's own is a pretty good recording, the record as a whole doesn't really speak to me. It might require another listen, but for now, it's simply a decent album. (Edited)
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