THE CHICK COREA NEW TRIO
Past, Present & Futures
Stretch Records
· Veteran pianist scores a hot outing with some fresh faces.
Chick Corea's liner notes give thanks for inspiration to James P. Johnson, Art Tatum, Bill Evans and contemporaries Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett. This in itself is an act of humility. But he goes one beyond and thanks younger musicians Brad Mehldau and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and this is a key to understanding Corea and his music.
While Corea could have the choice of anyone in jazz, he uses young guys, in this case Avishai Cohen, on acoustic bass, and Jeff Ballard, on drums. Cohen's work stands out right away – he solos brilliantly on the first tune, "Fingerprints," a musical tip of the hat to Wayne Shorter's "Footprints." Ballard fills his role effectively and is particularly distinctive on "Anna's Tango," where he plays the drums with no sticks, just hands, à la Leon Parker.
Corea pays musical tribute to Fats Waller, in a quirky performance of Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz." The other selections are Corea originals, written in his inimitable style. "Dignity," for instance, sounds a little like "You're Everything," while the "Rhumba Flamenco" might have come from his Leprechaun LP. As a composer and pianist, Corea has a flair for the dramatic as evidenced in his work on "Chelsea Shuffle" and the title track.
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