When Round Midnight was published, Thelonius Monk was considered an outsider on account of the extravagant harmony and complexity of his music; he cultivated this image. With his artful polyphonic style, Monk ingeniously gave the Romantic ‘midnight piece’ a jazz makeover. But shouldn’t nocturnal music sound tender, as though from afar or surfacing from the depths of dreams? Are brass instruments a suitable medium for such subtle aural effects? Today’s virtuoso performers, even when in an ensemble, play with an ease and agility that allays any fears one might have about their instruments’ reputation for being simply big-boned. They prove themselves versatile masters of imitation, equally at home conjuring fairy-like magic as when portraying a gloomy abyss or delivering incisive sounds of macabre horror.