Chick Corea’s Final Tour on Two-LP ‘Trilogy 3’

Aside from the technical brilliance of these three players in an all-acoustic setting, the lasting impressions from these shows are Corea’s charisma, playful approach, and unique connection with his audience. A recording can’t possibly capture all of that, but fortunately, this one comes close. Also, the connection that he has to McBride and Blade is special.  These three can play as one or dazzling improvisations on solos, bringing elegance, grace, and especially a freshness to this music, no matter if you’ve heard it played by others before. Blade and McBride can quickly read the music and adapt, so Corea has no compunctions about unearthing his older tunes.

Longtime Corea fans will recognize most, if not all, of these tracks, played at one time or another in a career that began in the mid-’60s.   The project leads off with the playful (rather obviously) “Humpty Dumpty,” performed first with Corea’s Akoustic Band (Patitucci and Weckl) in 1978.  The Burlington, VT audience is pumped, as gleaned from the applause on introductions of the band members. They swing hard from the outset, propelled by Blade’s wondrous kit work and McBride’s in-the-pocket bass lines. Corea is free to roam all over the piano, which he does gleefully, yielding to a beyond-nimble solo from McBride and a whirlwind take by Blade on the eights; they succeed in raising the nursery rhyme character back to his sitting position

The shimmering “Windows” is the first of the Paris pieces, tracing back to 1966 when Corea originally recorded the piece with Mercer Ellington and had Duke’s iconic players, such as Paul Gonsalves and Louis Bellson, on the session. Here, it runs rather introspectively at first, gaining intensity as it unfolds, with McBride and Corea in synch to the extent that the bassist anticipates and sometimes leads the pianist’s next move. They develop uncanny harmonics together, and from the piano to the bassist’s outrageous solo, it’s just a smooth continuum. The piece ends on one piano note, to the delight of the awestruck audience. “Ask Me Now” is a standard, often performed solo by Corea as on his 2000 Standards. His imaginative rendering is again on display here as he takes an extended solo intro before his trio mates join in around the three-minute mark, and it morphs into a swinger. Standout “You’d Be So Easy to Love” is an Ahmad Jamal piece that Corea performed on his duo album with Herbie Hancock. He begins this with a touch of electronics and Blade’s signature cymbal whispers before launching into the swinging, lyrical melody and intricate rhythms. The latter half features a vigorous dialogue between McBride and Blade and an energetic turn from the drummer that draws faves from the audience. 

In almost every concert Corea plays a Monk piece, here delivering one of Monk’s most covered tunes, “Tinkle, Tinkle,” (from Spain) a fine representation of how this trio approaches a piece so playfully. The chops of these three are so refined that they can easily glide into a classical piece, “Scarlatti: Sonata in D Minor, K9, L413 Allegro,” one that also appears on Corea’s 2020 solo Plays.  The intricate “Spanish Song” features more telepathic interplay, the tune first appearing on Corea’s 2017 album with Steve Gadd, Chinese Butterfly. Constantly aware of the tradition, Corea closes with his third tribute to a significant influence, Bud Powell’s “Tempus Fugit” (from Japan), a joyous, glorious bebop romp to a monstrous finale.

Years from now, this trio will still be held in great esteem as one of the greatest piano trios ever to perform. That was well established on the first two Trilogy projects. Trilogy 3 is just further proof.

from https://glidemagazine.com