Chick Corea Friends (1978)

Although this set contains eight lesser-known Chick Corea compositions, it is in reality a fine blowing date. Corea, on both acoustic and electric pianos, is joined by his old friend Joe Farrell on reeds, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Steve Gadd for some fine straightahead jazz.

Not all of the installments in the Verve Jazz Masters series contain material originally issued on Verve. Verve Jazz Masters 3, for example, consists of 14 examples drawn from seven Chick Corea LPs released on the Polydor label during the years 1972-1978. Six of these come from Corea's Return to Forever period. The backbone of this collection (tracks one, seven, ten and fourteen) are selections from the highly acclaimed album Light as a Feather (1972) and there are excerpts from Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973) and No Mystery (1975). The other eight titles are traceable to Corea's theatrically costumed and somewhat heavy-handed production albums The Leprechaun (1975), My Spanish Heart (1976), Friends (1978) and The Mad Hatter (1978). This disc will be useful as a vintage jazz fusion sampler or more specifically as an overview of what Chick Corea was up to during the Nixon/Ford/Carter years.

This post-Return to Forever Chick Corea LP is a bit of a mixed bag. Corea is heard on his many keyboards during an atmospheric "The Woods," interacts with a string section on "Tweedle Dee," features a larger band plus singer Gayle Moran on a few other songs and even welcomes fellow keyboardist Herbie Hancock for the "Mad Hatter Rhapsody." The most interesting selection, a quartet rendition of "Humpty Dumpty" with tenorman Joe Farrell set the stage for his next project, Friends. Overall, this is an interesting and generally enjoyable release.

The Jazz Club series is an attractive addition to the Verve catalogue. With it's modern design and popular choice of repertoire, the Jazz Club is not only opened for Jazz fans, but for everyone that loves good music. This collection by the Jazz keyboardist features 10 tracks including 'Slinky', 'Love Castle', 'Fickle Funk' and more.
Chick Corea has been one of the most significant jazzmen since the '60s. Not content at any time to rest on his laurels, he has been involved in quite a few important musical projects, and his musical curiosity has never dimmed. A masterful pianist who, along with Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett, was one of the top stylists to emerge after Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner, Corea is also one of the few electric keyboardists to be quite individual and recognizable on synthesizers…

On this rewarding set, the L.A. Four (altoist Bud Shank, acoustic guitarist Laurindo Almeida, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Jeff Hamilton) perform a Bach melody, "Carinhoso" (originally recorded by Shank and Almeida back in 1954), "Just Friends," a "Love" medley ("Love for Sale" and "Love Walked In"), and Chick Corea's "Spain." Shank sticks exclusively to alto for the date, leaving his flute in its case, and the result is a more high-powered program than usual.

Secret Agent follows a by-now familiar pattern: a costume change, a re-shuffling of the cast, and a mix of songs that are individually impressive but collectively less so. The record ranges from life-some Latin jazz ("Central Park") to haunting Vangelis-like instrumentals ("Bagatelle #4"), with Chick Corea adding and subtracting instruments as the arrangements dictate. The steady forces behind the music include a new rhythm section (Tom Brechtlein and fretless bassist Bunny Brunel), familiar faces Gayle Moran and Joe Farrell, and a kicking horn section that gets a couple of well-deserved cameos.

This post-Return to Forever Chick Corea LP is a bit of a mixed bag. Corea is heard on his many keyboards during an atmospheric "The Woods," interacts with a string section on "Tweedle Dee," features a larger band plus singer Gayle Moran on a few other songs and even welcomes fellow keyboardist Herbie Hancock for the "Mad Hatter Rhapsody." The most interesting selection, a quartet rendition of "Humpty Dumpty" with tenorman Joe Farrell set the stage for his next project, Friends. Overall, this is an interesting and generally enjoyable release.

This Fusion gem puts one of the most underated vocalist together with a few 70's fusion heavyweights and out comes a very enjoyable recording. George Duke, Alphonso Johnson, Airto and friends put out some of the hippest fusion in the 70' & 80's. Flora uses their musical abilities to the max on "That's What She Said." Using a variety of wordless vocal technics layered over electric keyboards and driving rhythms, these songs capture the fun and freedom that fusion later lost as it grew more commercial. Flora's entire catalog is ripe with music like this.