CHICK COREA &
GARY BURTON
The New Crystal Silence
Concord
Chick Corea and Gary Burton helped create
a sound and identity for themselves and the fledgling ECM
record label when they entered the studio together back
in 1973 to record an album of duets. That album, Crystal
Silence, has remained a favorite of listeners for these
35 years, and evidently the duet approach remained favorable
for Corea and Burton as well, because they have teamed up
several times over the years to reprise and extend their
work together, both onstage and in the studio. For this
occaision Burton and Corea accepted an invitation to perform
with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, providing Tim Garland
with five tunes to arrange for the orchestra as part of
their set. The also performed as a duet at many concert
halls and festivals. The resulting 2CD set, The New
Crystal Silence, is comprised of the Sydney performance
with orchestra as well as a disc of duet performances recorded
at the Molde Jazz Festival in Normay, with one track, “Senor
Mouse” from a performance in the Canary Islands.
The five tunes arranged for the symphony
orchestra are all Corea compositions, and provide nice settings
for the two musicians to share space, moving lightly through
the orchestrations and finding plenty of room for improvisation
as well. It speaks volumes that Corea and Burton can fill
a concert hall with their duet performances and have no
need of further instrumental backing, but Garland’s
orchestrations offer additional texture and the chance to
hear Corea’s compositions and the duo in a different
context. That is welcome both for the listener and, one
imagines, for the performers as well. The opening piece,
“Duende” is a new Corea compositon, one that
utilizes his penchant for neo-classical composition and
is therefore an excellent choice for Garland’s orchestration.
“Love Castle” is redolent with Corea’s
gift for melodic romanticism, a quality that is emphasized
by the orchestral passages. The two longest performances
with the orchestra are the title song “Crystal Silence”
and Corea’s beloved “La Fiesta.” The former
features a lengthy introduction that finds the strings in
a melancholoy mode, with splashes of sonic color reminiscent
of a beautiful sunset. Corea then sets the stage for Burton,
who plays the simple, haunting melody, his bright vibraphone
underscored by Corea in the piano’s low range. The
strings and lower woodwinds resound along with Corea’s
left hand to create a mystical atmosphere. “La Fiesta,”
performed by and arranged for many different size groups
lends itself well to Garland’s Falla-esque arrangements.
It’s a bit less kinetic and rough-and-ready than the
duet version contained on CD 2, but it is an interesting
and, overall, a successful performance.
As delightful as the performance with the
symphony is, the bread and butter of this disc is still
in the duet performances. Here the duo performs five Corea
tunes (including the reprise of ‘La Fiesta”)
and three standards. There is nothing new to say about these
performances, which is truly meant as a complimentary phrase.
It’s been said many times, by many writers and listeners,
that Corea and Burton possess near-telepathic skills as
a duet, and one has only to listen to this group of performances
to hear that. From the happy, bouncy strains of “Bud
Powell” through the gorgeous Bill Evans piece “Waltz
for Debby” and on to Corea classics such as “No
Mystery” and “Senor Mouse,” it’s
easy to see why Corea and Burton continue to enjoy performing
together after 35 years of such periodic collaborations:
they are extremely simpatico as performers and they obviously
have a great deal of fun playing together. How could that
possibly not be cause for celebration? The New Crystal
Silence will find very pleased listeners among both
long time fans of these two wonderful musicians as well
as providing a solid introduction to their work together
for newcomers.
