COMPOSERS: Chick Corea
LABELS: Concord Jazz
ALBUM TITLE: Chick Corea: Trilogy
PERFORMER: Chick Corea (keyboard), Christian McBride (bass), Brian Blade (drums)
Had this release come out as a boxed set of LPs it would have required ten sides of vinyl. It’s an odd bird in certain respects, in that CD sets of this size tend to focus on particular sessions or performances at a specific venue, whereas this is a massive trawl through a diary of live performances from seven different countries. In the hands of lesser musicians such a project could have become a self-indulgent ragbag, but Corea’s inventiveness means there’s never a dull moment.
His approach to this format is engagingly bipolar, switching from a firm embrace of the traditional conventions of the piano trio to completely wayward excursions that follow their own unpredictable but unfailingly robust logic, with McBride and Blade in empathetic support. There are occasional
guest performers, too, and the recorded sound is superb. Abandon any misgivings and just enjoy this rare combination of profusion
and quality. Roger Thomas