Record Reviews

CHICK COREA ~ PORTRAITS STRETCH 888072356030 (Barcode: 888072356030) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 2011 - 2012 Released: 2014 As incredible as it might sound, pianist / composer Chick CoreaFind albums by this artist has been an integral and continuous element of the soundtrack of my life for the last five decades. I travelled with him hand in hand through every album he released over the years, moving from modern Jazz, to Free and Improvised Music, to piano solo miniatures, to Fusion, back to modern mainstream, to piano-vibraphone duets, to piano duets, to electric groups and acoustic trios, to Classical explorations and on and on. What a journey... As usual every new album by Chick is an adventure. It´s been a while since he released a solo piano album and this 2CD set full of outstanding solo performances is a true delight in every sense. All the music was recorded live during his solo piano performances in Europe, Canada and US (and even Africa). On the first CD Chick performs several lengthy interpretations of pieces by Thelonious MonkFind albums by this artist, Bud PowellFind albums by this artist and Bill EvansFind albums by this artist, one standard and one pop song by Stevie WonderFind albums by this artist. The last track on the first CD is his composition dedicated to Paco De LuciaFind albums by this artist. On the second CD he performs twenty five miniatures, first by Classical composers Alexander ScriabinFind albums by this artist and Bela BartokFind albums by this artist and then two sets of his own compositions grouped under the common titles: "Children´s Songs" and "Portraits". Both CDs include Chick´s spoken interludes explaining his intentions and motivations behind the music he performs. It seems pretty superfluous to try and explain anything about the music herein. Obviously it presents a wide scope of cultural backgrounds from Classical European music to modernism and than Jazz and its various facets and finally the personal universe of Chick Corea, which is able to contain all that infinite richness and expand upon it. Chick´s way of playing is very personal and quite recognizable to his followers and connoisseurs, so there are no great surprises in that area, except that for a man in his seventies Chick is infinitely more alive, creative and inventive than today´s young zombie generation stuck inside their smart phones. Technically the music is superbly recorded, with excellent detail and warm ambience, which makes listening to this album a delightful experience. Chick is still one of the leaders of the Jazz pack and life seems to treat him and his music well, for which we all should be grateful. Listening for two hours to this music is a trip to sanity so put your feet up and enjoy as long as you can.

Updated: 26/08/2020Posted:

CD 2 Mini-Sleeve Recommend To A Friend

FRACTURED DIMENSION ~ TOWARDS THE MYSTERIUM NOT ON LABEL (Barcode: 809812012122) ~ USA ~ Progressive Rock Recorded: 2008 Released: 2008 1st album by US Prog trio led by keyboardist Jimmy PittsFind albums by this artist, who also composed almost all the music on the album, with bassist Jerry TwyfordFind albums by this artist and drummer Alex ArellanoFind albums by this artist. The music is a very ambitious musical suite, comprised of 17 miniatures, which pays homage to the Russian pianist / composer / philosopher / mystic Alexander ScriabinFind albums by this artist. Scriabin was of course one the most interesting and forward-thinking composers of the late 19th / early 20th Century, and who had an immense influence on the development of modern Classical Music, especially atonal / twelve-tone music developed later in the 20th Century by Arnold SchoenbergFind albums by this artist, Alban BergFind albums by this artist, Anton WebernFind albums by this artist, Hanns EislerFind albums by this artist, Milton BabbittFind albums by this artist, Luciano BerioFind albums by this artist, Pierre BoulezFind albums by this artist and Igor StravinskyFind albums by this artist. Scriabin, who died unexpectedly at the age of 43, left an unfinished piece he was working on, called "Mysterium", which was an epitome of his aesthetic and mystical beliefs. As the title of the album suggests, Pitts and his cohorts try to develop a piece of music, which perhaps could have been written by Scriabin, if he was alive today. Although such an undertaking might look mockingly way too ambitious, to my pleasant surprise they managed to fulfill their ambitions extremely well. The music is truly excellent, full of twists and turns, yet beautifully coherent, bearing many references to modern Classical Music, but incorporating musical techniques from Rock and Jazz. Often devilishly complex and tricky, the trio manages to perform the music flawlessly, which of course demands almost total control of their instruments. In order to expand the album´s tonality and instrumental depth, the group invited about a dozen of their friends / musicians (mostly guitarists), each contributing a brief solo on several of the pieces, adding mostly ornamentation rather than substance. Several of the guitar solos have a slight "metallic" tinge, which might lead for this album to be classified as Prog Metal (as I´ve observed in some of the album´s reviews); well those who do so simply miss the point by a mile. The usage of instruments is completely meaningless and if this music was performed by a Classical ensemble (which seems like a good idea), it would still be the same – a superb example of intelligent, contemporary music, a rare gem on the dreary plane of musical refuse that mostly surrounds us all. The fact that such exceptional music was created by young musicians, who are not only very talented, but who also know who Scriabin was, not to mention knowing his music (an extremely rare manifestation of respect towards the European Classical Music heritage, especially among Americans), makes them a great example for others to follow (not that I have many illusions as to this becoming a reality). Overall this is a stunning debut, worthy of a respectful position among the best Prog albums produced in the last decade, although the open-minded listeners of contemporary Classical music might have a field day with it as well. Kudos and I can´t wait for the group´s next effort, hoping they can sustain the same level of excellence.

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