this excellent and transitionary recording from Corea is a welcome reissue on vinyl.
ECM 1014 / 652 3450 (Luminessence Series vinyl)
Chick Corea (piano)
Recorded April 21 & 22, 1971
When discussing ECMs prolific body of work documenting solo piano performances the first name on everybody’s lips is inevitably Keith Jarrett. However, through fate, good fortune and timing logistics it would be Chick Corea to commit the first solo piano album to tape under the watchful eye of Manfred Eicher.
Eicher had been thinking seriously about the concept of solo piano recordings for the imprint. Seriously enough to have approached not just Corea but also Paul Bley and Jarrett to record solo albums, and it was purely down to the schedules and commitments of Bley and Jarrett that it was Corea who was first in the studio.
Chronologically ECMs first three solo piano albums were Corea’s Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 & 2, Keith Jarrett’s Facing You (November 1971) and Paul Bley’s Open, To Love (September 1972) and they could not be any more different. Corea had been working with Miles Davis on the trumpeters early fusion albums and as part of his live band. Indeed, at one point Davis would have both Corea and Jarrett playing in his band at the same time.
While Jarrett after leaving Miles would eschew electric keyboards to concentrate in the acoustic instrument, Corea would continue to embrace both acoustic and electric instruments throughout his career.
Here for perhaps the first time we are able to hear how Corea approaches not just his playing but also his method of composing. While side two of this LP reissue imply the more freely improvised music of the session even within the improvisations that make up the eight part ‘Where Are You Now? – A Suite of Eight Pictures’ the piece simply titled ‘Picture 4’ sits to one side of the other pictures in that it feels composed. There is a definite structure and melodic idea that Corea appears to have dabbled with previously and finds its ultimate form in the composition ‘What Game Shall We Play Today’ that the pianist records for ECM on his album Return To Forever the following year.
It with the compositions that Corea is perhaps most comfortable at this point and how they sit within his future discography is most interesting and appealing to listen to in this solo recital. Familiar to many will be the lovely ‘Ballad for Anna’ and ‘Song for Sally’ that would later be recast as the epic ‘Sea Journey’. Further ideas that would be staples in Corea’s career and integral to the success of Return to Forever is ‘Sometime Ago’ which is the longest and most deeply investigated composition of the session.
If somewhat overshadowed by Jarrett’s monumental series of solo albums for the imprint, Manfred Eicher and ECM quite rightly old this recording by Corea in high regard as the album was reissued on CD as part of the labels Touchstone series for the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2019 (you can read my observations on the album at that time in the article TOUCHSTONES – Celebrating 50 Years Of ECM), and this excellent and transitionary recording from Corea is a welcome reissue on vinyl.
