Chick Corea Plays

Chick Corea
Plays
Concord Jazz

On this compilation of mostly solo piano performances, Chick Corea engages audiences with a program that includes surprising pairings of his favorite influences as well as spontaneous improvisations, and his own compositions. Corea, these performances engage with a wide swath of musical history before enthusiastic audiences in concert halls across Europe and the U.S. The performances here are from concerts in Clearwater, Florida; Paris, and Berlin.

There are deep dives in the classical repertoire for pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Domenico Scarlatti, Alexander Scriabin, and Frédéric Chopin. Also performed are compositions by formative jazz influences Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk mixed with the bossa nova beauty of Antônio Carlos Jobim. Corea also explores The Great American Songbook through songs by the Gershwins and Jerome Kern and the more modern pop of Stevie Wonder.

Corea remains a virtuoso, so it is a delight to hear him perform Scarlatti's "Sonata in D Minor K9, L413, Allegro," with a subtle precise touch. He then segues into Kern's "Yesterdays," with equal clarity in an improvisation. It is not the only unexpected delight of mixing the classical tradition with the American songbook. The program started with a Mozart piano sonata transitioning into the Gershwins' "Someone to Watch Over Me." Corea himself has noted, "To me it fit so well, but I found that, to audiences, it was a little unusual for me to put together a Mozart piece with a Gershwin tune. What do Mozart and Gershwin have to do with one another? That's up to you as a listener, but they're analogous to me."

Adding to the charm of many of these performances is Corea's introductions to some of these performances. He talks about finding and displaying links between music such as between Mozart and Gershwin. His brief talks are playful and informative, as he introduces the captivating performances of Bill Evans' "Waltz For Debby" and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Desafinado." After assured, lovely renditions of pieces from Chopin and Scriabin are followed by a trio of Monk compositions that he introduced as a tribute to Monk. The performance of "Pannonica" is particularly sterling.

In addition to his inventive rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Perfect," Corea dazzles on his "The Yellow Nimbus," performed as a tribute to the great flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía with whom he recorded this composition in 1982. There are two spontaneous performances inspired by audience members, followed by two piano duets with audience members. The duets involved the conservatory-trained French classical pianist Charles Heisser and the French-Israeli jazz pianist Yaron Herman. When they were chosen, they were simply audience members.

The album closes with Corea revisiting some of the Children's Songs he composed in the 1970s. It continues the exploratory and playful character of these performances. "Plays" is another recording that displays Chick Corea's virtuosity and musical brilliance.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is "Waltz For Debby" from this album.