Off Minor is a composition by Thelonious Monk, originally titled What Now, written before 1947. The piece follows a thirty-two-bar AABA form in G minor, but its most distinctive feature is that it never resolves on the tonic, a quality reflected in the title itself. Each A section ends on an unresolved chord, with the first A concluding on a D-sharp chord extended with a flatted ninth that clashes against the piano melody, while the bridge likewise ends on an unresolved D chord. This design leaves each eight-bar phrase suspended in mid-air, generating a compelling sense of forward motion throughout. Monk's harmonic language here is notably adventurous, with dissonance treated not as a passing tension but as the compositional goal itself. The melody appears to determine the harmony rather than the other way around, and the voicings were largely without precedent in jazz at the time. Part of the A section melody was borrowed from composer Elmo Hope. The tune was first recorded not by Monk but by the Bud Powell Trio in January 1947, nine months before Monk's own October 1947 session for Blue Note Records as part of his Genius of Modern Music dates. The composition is regarded as one of Monk's signature works and an important piece in the jazz standard repertoire, though it is notoriously difficult to play, which has somewhat limited its uptake among performers.
