Those who were fortunate to have seen Chick Corea’s acoustic trio with Brian Blade/dr and Christian McBride are going to need to listento this massive 8 disc collection in order to appreciate what was experienced at those events. The 29 songs, ranging from 7-30 minutes, are taken from a whole range of concerts at various locations including Spain, Turkey, Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Japan and the US between 2010 and 2012. The selection of material is almost as wide spread, covering originals, standards, and jazz covers.
In approaching such a massive volume of this, I’m reminded of the advice someone gave me to a similar boxed set, the Complete Art Tatum Solo Sessions: don’t take it all in at once. Imbibe slowly, over a long period of time. It’s the difference between sipping a cool water in a demi tasse cup or putting your mouth up to a fire hydrant. The surfeit of majesty can be overwhelming, considering the texture and force of McBride’s bass, the freely cogent drums of Blade and the inquisitive experimentational joy of Corea.
All area amply displayed here, with Corea’s “No He Sings, Now He Sobs” getting delved into with various prismatic colors, as well as his own fairly concise “La Siesta” or the more stretched out 18 minute opus of “Spain”. Meanwhile, Corea pulls out all of the plugs on a 30 minute exploration of “Piano Sonata” that mixes classical, jazz and Iberia to an astounding and astonishing level of brilliance. What’s also interesting is the large amount of material by Thelonious Monk, with “Work”, “Blue Monk” and “Crepuscule With Nellie” getting puree’d through Corea’s filter, while standards such as “How Deep Is The Ocean” and “But Beautiful” bring a new coat of paint to the Tin Pan Alley Dutch Masters.
The level of communicative interplay here is something that makes you remember why you love jazz in the first place. Where others may go cacophonic or abstract, Corea and company keep it both simple and sensational.