Change

Chick Corea | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 8, 1999)
• Original Release Date: June 8, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Stretch Records
• ASIN: B00000J7Y3
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,193 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If Change is any indication, the long and dizzying career of pianist Chick Corea is again on a decided upswing. The second studio album recorded by Corea and his sextet, Origin, Change is heavier on Corea's own compositions than was the group's Live at the Blue Note single-CD debut or expanded Week at the Blue Note six-CD box set, and the aural evidence is that the pianist has found a wellspring of inspiration in the group's company. It isn't hard to see why. The group's rhythm section of bassist Avishai Cohen and drummer Jeff Ballard is enormously supple and elastic, swinging on everything from the midtempo Miles Davis-ish "Early Afternoon Blues" to the thrilling rhythms of "Armando's Tango" and "Little Flamenco," and the group's three horn players provide an astounding array of different textures and moods. At times Change sounds almost like one of the spacious and groundbreaking Blue Note albums of the mid-'60s recorded by artists like Andrew Hill and Jackie McLean, reverberating with a kind of freedom that unleashes the best from each musician while tempering the compositions with enough structure to keep them constantly engaging. Several of the tunes, most successfully "L.A. Scenes" and "The Spinner," jettison the familiar jazz-song format of head-solos-head in favor of a through-composed approach that pushes the group through different pieces of terrain every step of the way. --Ezra Gale

Product Description

Includes Japanese Exclusive Bonus Track 'saam'. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great cd! Great band! Corea on a roll!, July 10, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Change (Audio CD)

Chick is on a roll. The past few years he's been putting out an impressive body of work. The Bud Powell cd was great as were the live Origin sets and the new duets w/Burton and Like Minds w/Burton, Metheny,etc... and now this gem - which might be the best of the lot! A really great band playing fresh, challenging and listenable music. This one has dominated my cd player since I got it. Bears repeated listenings! My early vore for cd of the year/jazz musician of the year

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars recommended, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Change (Audio CD)

Chick is a very deliberate and emphatic pianist--yet playful. (He's learned to work the vibraphone.) His new co-conspirators play a variety of instruments. Sunday's concert (September 5, 1999) began with trombone, soprano saxophone, and bass clarinet, an unusual set of timbres that don't quite congeal and please for just that reason. Well, Origin: great musicians all and very much recommended.

Also recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By any reckoning . . ., May 26, 2004

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Change (Audio CD)

. . . this is a great disc: impossibly tuneful, deeply swinging, rhythmically charged, featuring wonderful ensemble playing and stunning soloing.

The question arises--Where're the follow ups?

Yes, there was a previous disc, Origin, as well as a six-disc live recording of this group (too much of a good thing? Said all they wanted to say?).

Then nothing more.

Why?

Probably too hard to hold a band this talented together. Certainly, drummer Jeff Ballard has gone on to other important projects. Bassist Avishai Cohen's become a leader in his own right, turning out five very good discs before stumbling with Lyla. Altoist Steve Wilson's got several solo discs to his credit. As does trombonist Steve Davis. And tenor player Bob Shepherd has any number of projects going. Yet other talented bands, notably Ben Allison's Medicine Wheel and the Dave Holland Quintet, have stuck together.

As great a jazz trio leader and piano player as Chick Corea is--and he's among a handful of the very greatest--I think a larger ensemble fits his prodigal talents even better. There's more instrumental color, increased band interaction, a wider ranging sound signature, and more excitement.

Of the scores of Corea discs out there, this is my favorite.

Give it a whirl; I don't think you'll be disappointed.