Chick Corea: The Montreux Years

Did Chick Corea ever disappoint? Did he ever fail to cast a sense of wonderment and community on any live performance? Did his mischievous hands ever land on a bad note? If so, it seems never happened at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where Corea spun his spell twenty-three times over the years, and certainly not on the fabulously curated The Montreux Years.

Available in a host of configurations, the set blasts off with "Fingerprints" from 2001with Christian McBride and Brian Blade, first heard in all its high def excitement on the Grammy winning Trilogy (Concord, 2013) and sky rockets from there. The gravity defying "Bud Powell" from Remembering Bud Powell (Stretch, 1997) receives a sprightly and hugely spirited work out with Kenny Garrett's clear toned sax riding the waves conjured by Corea, McBride and drummer Roy Haynes.

Spotlighting the breadth and reach of Corea the intuitive and emphatic composer, The Montreux Years then serves up "Quartet No. 2 (Part I)," a true piece of harmonic push and pull that the Akoustic Band, namely John Patitucci and Dave Weckl, magically work into a jazz/classical mash up. Corea, ever the imp, messes with the 2004 Montreux crowd with "Interlude" and gives the 2001 audience a deeply heartfelt rendering of "Dignity" from Past, Present & Future (Stretch, 2001). From a performance in 2006 with the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, the rapturous suite "America (Continents Pt 4)" is a marvel. As a testament to his unselfish brilliance The Montreux Years cannot be matched.

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