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CHICK COREA Read
the Jazzitude review of Chick Corea/The Ultimate Adventure Rendezvous in New York is a distillation of the three weeks of performances that Corea and his musical colleagues from over the years put on at New York’s Blue Note in December of 2001. It’s an opportunity to hear one of modern jazz music’s most amazing pianists play in a variety of settings and styles. While the music presented here isn’t all perfect, it is all reflective of some aspect of Corea’s career, and this is a CD that any serious jazz fan or piano fan is going to put into heavy rotation. Things start off well enough with three duet performances featuring Bobby McFerrin along with Corea. Now, McFerrin is a talented vocalist and a really amazing improviser. He is full of spontaneity and really “in the moment.” But I just find his vocal techniques, his imitation of instruments, and his humorous asides to be fairly annoying, and as such, I just cannot enjoy the first two performances here. “Armando’s Rhumba” is alright, but nothing really special, and his cutting up on “Blue Monk” is, for me, a real drag. Things go better when he forgets the schtick, as on the medley of “Concierto De Aranjuez/Spain,” but listen to this track and the same medley on the second disc performed by Corea and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and tell me which one works up more sparks. Nonetheless, it sounds like McFerrin, Corea, and the audiences at the Blue Note were all having a good time, and that’s the name of the game. That’s another important element in the success of this CD—everyone playing here sounds like they want to be here, like it was a real honor for them to be here playing with Corea and celebrating his 60th birthday. That kind of respect and enthusiasm go a long way toward making a performance special. Some of my favorite Corea music has always been the work he did with Miles Davis, the free jazz he did with Dave Holland and Circle right after leaving Davis (he had hoped to reform Circle for these performances, but Holland’s schedule did not permit), and his early piano trio work with Roy Haynes and Miroslav Vitous. The Now He Sings, Now He Sobs trio here plays the famous track “Matrix” from that album, and it is not a disappointment in any way. But then, neither are either of the other two trio performances here. The Akoustic Band (comprised of Corea, John Patitucci, and Dave Weckl) contribute winning, passionate versions of the John Coltrane composition “Bessie’s Blues” and the classic “Autumn Leaves,” which becomes a near twelve-minute fantasia showing just how thoroughly Corea can work his way through a series of variations on a theme. He also performs, later in the set, with the New Trio featuring Avishai Cohen and Jeff Ballard. This trio, which recorded the excellent CD Past, Present, and Futures together, is perhaps not as angular nor as altogether new as the Haynes/Vituous trio, but it is a sublime group, nonetheless. Other performances of note include a Bud Powell tribute of “Glass Enclosure/Tempus Fugit” with Roy Haynes, Christian McBride, Joshua Redman, and Terence Blanchard. Then there’s a fine revisiting of “Crystal Silence” with Gary Burton. The two performed this on their first duet album together, and even though they’ve now recorded together several times, this composition will always resonate as one of the most intense Corea/Burton performances. “Armando’s Tango” is given a good performance by Origin, withc features Cohen and Ballard again, along with Steve Wilson, Steve Davis, and Tim Garland. Garland’s bass clarinet work is particularly beautiful, giving the piece real warmth. The Corea/Rubalcaba duet is sublime, and really one of the high points of an album that has many such points. It’s amazing to realize the many different musicians and the years of projects that went into the brief selection of music heard on these two CDs, and to realize how much incredible music went down during those weeks in December. Of course, this is just a new starting point for Chick Corea. I don’t think we’ll see him slowing down or repeating himself. If anything, what’s to come will open new chapters in a career that has already seen more great work than most, and I cannot wait to see what Corea’s next project is.
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