Chick Corea has left us, I learned yesterday. I know, 79 is a respectable age. Yet it is too early, for Chick anyway.
I was lucky enough to see him live in 2017, performing with Béla Fleck. It was one of those concerts that will stay with me — excuse the cliché but Chick was very fond of this word — forever.
Here’s my Corea playlist. It is by no means representative; on the contrary, it’s very personal and biased.
During my six-week stay in Valencia, I didn’t go to as many jazz concerts as I could or wanted. For variety of reasons, but chiefly because of my overall tiredness and forgetfulness. Why, I even managed to miss La Nit de Berklee, a free event featuring John McLaughlin himself. Damn.
And if not for a Facebook notice from my friend (and fellow Arco Iris alumna), I would have never discovered Mar i Jazz (16—18 June 2017). This festival took place in the Parque Dr. Lluch, next to the beach. I came on Saturday and Sunday and enjoyed it a lot. There were two scenes but no two bands were playing at the same time, so, in theory, one could wander back and forth and listen to it all. It was very relaxing and family-friendly, with lots of cute toddlers (and their parents) crawling around. I met old and new friends, spent some hours sitting/laying on the grass, had a nap and even ventured to the beach for a quick dip. In my opinion, Sunday had the better programme, Le Dancing Pepa Swing Band and Elektrik Jazz Mantra being the highlights.
Next Saturday, 24 June, I went to see the colourful and noisy Pride Parade (Orgullo 2017) boasting an apparently endless supply of samba bands. I really came there to cheer that very friend and, naturally, her band appeared the last! After that, I walked to Palau de la Música to see, wait for it, Gran Canaria Big Band. Far cry from Frank Sinatra Tribute, their programme Jazzethnic (which I’ve also mentioned in my other blog) is a fascinating mix of modern jazz with Canarian folklore.
As I was saying, there is no shortage of samba bands in Valencia. For two Sundays only, I (in company of Harold the Hedgehog) joined one of them. And that made me want more samba! Alas, my last Sunday in Valencia there was no rehearsal. I had to compensate for it with my second helping of the beach.
Finally, on Monday, 17 July, I went to Jardines de Viveros to see Chick Corea and Béla Fleck. (After missing McLaughlin, I thought I would never ever forgive myself for another mishap of such magnitude.) I can’t say I was impressed with the logistics. The website suggests that there is a limited supply of seats and so you have to hurry up with the booking. (The only type of tickets my friend could book on Monday were meant for people with reduced mobility.) Wrong! The seats in Viveros were of a plastic garden chair variety that you can buy in any bazar here for a few euro each. And at least a third of them were empty! Not only the tickets were pricey: this place sells the most expensive beer in Spain. No, for this kind of music, one needs a smaller, preferably air-conditioned, venue.
Enough complaining: the show was well worth it. I liked it all, but especially Children’s Song #6, Señorita and (suddenly!) two sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. (Ah, that banjo sounding like harpsichord... pure magic.) The encores were, maybe unsurprisingly, Spain and Armando’s Rhumba: all these years and countless performances later, still as good (or better) as one could expect. But — back to complaining mode — I was really annoyed with the audience that night. It was like nobody, apart from me and my beautiful neighbour on the left that is, wanted the show to go on. You guys paid a lot for the tickets; couldn’t you shout “Otra! Otra!” a bit louder and for longer time?
As far as I know, Past, Present & Futures is the only album recorded by The Chick Corea New Trio, with Avishai Cohen on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums. Which is a shame really. The opener, Fingerprints, makes it pretty obvious that this is the best piano trio Corea ever had, period. All the compositions are originals written by Corea especially for the trio, except for Jitterbug Waltz by Fats Waller, played here with great humour. Two beautiful songs are dedicated to Corea’s mother, Anna’s Tango (in Corea’s words, “created as the compliment to Armando’s Rhumba”) and a jazz waltz Dignity. My favourite on this album is another jazz waltz, Nostalgia (“this song sort of wrote itself one afternoon”).
I missed my plane to Helsinki, because I forgot my passport at home. After getting back home, I booked myself a ticket for the next morning. I decided to spend the night watching a DVD which I got for my birthday. Watching and listening and having a beer and reminiscing.
My first encounter with music of Return To Forever happened in mid-’80s. Somebody brought in the double LP compilation album by Polydor, named simply The Jazz Rock Album. (It could be that it was never re-issued as a CD.) I duly taped it. The first LP opener was Song to the Pharoah Kings by RTF. I never heard anything like that before.
30+ years since Song to the Pharoah Kings was recorded, the band (Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola and Lenny White) reunited. The DVD contains the live recording of RTF at Montreux Jazz Festival 2008. The first half of the concert is ‘electric’, the second is ‘acoustic’ (I liked it more). The solo parts (apart from Al’s solo), although technically flawless, left me cold; but the band (as a band) sounds awesome. Still, I couldn’t decide what is more amazing: that all material they play now was written by these guys 30 years earlier, or that the band is able to play as good (or better) 30 years later.
Jazz singer, piano player, songwriter and a resident of Saffron Walden: for the hell of me, I can’t figure out why I’ve never seen Joanna Eden live, an oversight I am determined to correct. (Why, she even did perform at R A Butler School last year!) I came across her debut album, A Little Bird Told Me, in Saffron Walden library. It is a beautiful collection of standards (God Bless The Child, Night and Day) and originals, such as I Don’t Smoke and Father’s Day (this latter still gives me goose bumps). For me, her version of Sea Journey is even better than Chick Corea’s.
Two of the jazz fusion pioneers, Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, in one band, captured live, and a psychedelic cover. Need I say more?
Perhaps I do. The musicians are of the highest calibre: Kenny Garrett on sax, Christian McBride on bass, and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, plus a guest appearence of Herbie Hancock (In A Silent Way / It’s About That Time). It’s all highly enjoyable stuff, but I liked McLaughlin’s compositions, Raju, New Blues, Old Bruise and Señor C.S., the most. At times, they sound like The Mahavishnu Orchestra of thirtysomething years ago, but more wise and relaxed. Closing the double-CD set is a gentle surprise, Someday My Prince Will Come, the duo of electric guitar and acoustic piano.
 | I decline to attempt to describe this music or give it a name. But I will say that it’s a music that is made by five musicians who don’t care about what it’s called or where it comes from or what its “influences” are. |
