Midlife Bloom (Dianne Reeves)

Abstract Of the 70-plus tunes attributed to Thelonious Monk, the ballads occupy a singular plateau, none more so than “Reflections,” which he introduced at a magnificent 1952 Prestige trio session alongside “Trinkle Tinkle,” “Bemsha Swing,” and a riotously swinging “These Foolish Things” that begins with a condign borrowing of Johnny Ray’s “Please Mr. Sun.” Though acclaimed as an evocative melody, “Reflections” failed to attract a lyricist and so never found traction with singers. It is classic, paradoxical Monk, beautiful and memorable yet a minefield of odd intervals, each essential to its bricks-and-mortar structure. It gives the illusion of being readily singable but isn’t. In the 1980s, Jon Hendricks wrote an impressive, poetic lyric for the tune as part of Carmen McRae’s last major project, Carmen Sings Monk. McRae takes it at a medium tempo, cannily interpreting the lyric from the vantage of a worldly lady who has seen it all; she rushes the tag, “Thank God I’m one girl who knows,” as if relieved to have made it safely to journey’s end. She also finesses the tune, gliding over some of the knottier intervals. Well, that’s what jazz singers do, and when they embellish a pop song and make it better, we cheer. But like Ellington’s trickier melodies, “Reflections” ought to be sung as written.