Customer Reviews

Best of Chick Corea

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Given Chick Corea's association with many record labels over the course of thirty plus years, many `Best of' Corea records have been released, creating some confusion for first-time and casual Corea listeners. This particular compilation covers his direct and indirect association with the Blue Note label during his formative years of the late sixties. While Corea was destined for greater things at this time, this is still an outstanding sample of his early work. On this record, you can actually hear him transform from a very good mainstream post-bop piano player and composer to a unique, virtuoso voice on his instrument and a master songwriter, a status that he enjoys to this day.

The first two tracks are actually taken from a 1966 Blue Mitchell LP, "Boss Horn", but Chick both composed and played prominently on these tunes, backed by a 4-man horn section. The energetic and shifting `Straight Up and Down' is followed by an early (but not the earliest) version of his first classic composition `Tones for Joan's Bones'. The remaining nine tracks are in a trio format, six of which can be found in the `Now He Sings, Now He Sobs' CD. The tracks he recorded with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes rank among his best trio work, every song is outstanding. Most notable are his snappy interpretation of Monk's `Pannonica' and the originals `Windows' and `Now He Sings...'. His distinctive crisp-as-lettuce, swinging style is already well set by this time. For the last three tunes he played with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul, he stretches out toward free jazz, but never quite loses his anchor to bop. Wayne Shorter's `Nefertiti' is barely recognizable, especially at first listen, but you can still find it if you listen closely enough. Shortly after that set, Anthony Braxton comes on board, the avant-garde group `Circle' is born, and Corea makes jazz history several times over the course of the seventies and beyond.

This compilation is not a great choice for those who already own the `Now He Sings...' CD nor is it for the Corea completist. But it will more than do for anyone else.

I find myself playing this CD over and over again. There is something ineffable about Chick's playing, especially his early work, that has a quality that can't be precisely described -- we call it genius, or beauty, but we can never pin it down. The cuts on this CD are like that. The first 2 are from a Blue Mitchell album, but played melodically, and with beautiful horn accompaniment. The other cuts are Chick in a trio setting with the late great basist Miroslav Vitous. The interplay between Vitous and Chick is a treat to the ears. Chick's version of "My One and Only Love" is astonishing. I have this cut on my all-time piano trio CD collection. This is the kind of CD that you can play forever and never get tired of, because the playing is so fresh. As one other reviewer commented, those who own the "Now He Sings.. CD will find duplication here, but I'd say this is definitely a CD worth getting if you want to listen to a lot of great cuts from Chick's early work. (For those who are looking for Chick's electronic music, I want to emphasize that this CD is from Chick's early work, so you probably don't want to get it).

As a recent jazz "convert" I'm trying to expand my collection beyond Bill Evans (my favorite), Thelonious Monk, and Wes Montgomery. I heard a snippet of Chick Corea's "Windows" on the radio and picked up this CD. I personally prefer the lighter trio music - just a piano, bass, and drums instead of loud trumpets and saxophone - and much of this album is exactly that.

The first 2 songs are not a trio, however, but with a horn section. I don't care for "Straight Up and Down," which sounds rather chaotic, but the second one, "Tones for Joan's Bones," which is much slower, is actually kind of nice. After that the rest of the cd is just his trio, and is where I like it most. "Windows" is probably my favorite, with a very nice upbeat sound, yet perfectly relaxing. Other favorites include "My One and Only Love," "Samba Yantra," and "Pannonica." The final three songs aren't as easy-listening - in the liner notes it's called "avant-garde," which to me it sounds less organized and more noisy.

Still, not a bad trio CD - maybe 3 and a half stars - but that's what I like about jazz music; I can put several CDs on and play them all randomly and it's just nice to hear in the background, and this one provides a nice contrast with the rest of my collection.

A great selection of his early work. Excellent selections that flow from one to the next. Very well thought out.

what a grand Talent.this set showcases the early Genius of this Man.his playing has such force at many different styles.he sounds so free and at ease thru out this set.you forget for a minute that this Man has played with the likes of Miles Davis,Herbie Hancock,Billy Cobham among a whose who.Straight up&down starts the Pace for this must have disc.i feel about this disc as i do about The Return To Forever era and that was something special on the ears.

Lo que me gusta de Chick Corea es que el color de su música es perceptible en cualquier ambiente que el pianista de Boston la ejecute. Ya sea en fusión, hardbop, vanguardia, electrónica, Corea siempre desliza ese toque lúdico que lo caracteriza. Sus primeras grabaciones, incluso esas tan densas como las que grabó con CIRCLE o el A.R.C. de ECM, están llenas de una belleza ecléctica y luminosa como un arcoiris, en este disco resume sus mejores grabaciones (desde mi particular punto de vista), aquéllas que grabara a finales de la gloriosa década de los sesenta. Sólo para gente que desee incorporarse al lado claro de la luna "coreana", porque quienes ya lo conocemos hay que ahorrarse la compra de este disco y conseguir rápidamente los compactos "Now he sings, now he sobs", "Tones for Joan's bones", "ARC", el "Song of singing" o el disco "Inner space".