The Vigil (Concord Jazz, 2013)
You have to admire Chick Corea. He was one of the essential pioneers of jazz-rock and fusion and he’s always delivered quality material. While some of his former band mates and collaborators fell into the trap of smooth jazz mediocrity, he continued to explore different avenues with outstanding acoustic and electric jazz projects. The Vigil is an electric project, sort of a Return to Forever of the 21st century.
For his latest project Chick Corea put together a band of fabulous young instrumentalists who are deeply inspired by jazz and fusion. The piece that attracted me the most is track 2, ‘Planet Chia,’ where Chick Core and his colleagues venture into flamenco jazz. Chick Corea has played recently with Spanish musicians who were involved in the new flamenco and flamenco-jazz scene and this influence appears solidly in ‘Planet Chia’. It is clearly visible in Chick Corea’s piano approach; Tim Garland’s saxophone that follows the Jorge Pardo tradition; and guitarist Charles Altura’s flamenco styling from a jazz perspective. Playing flamenco is not easy and Altura does an outstanding job.
The entire album will appeal to Chick Corea fans and fusion lovers, with lots of acoustic and electronic keyboards. The saxophones seem to dominate in this album, which makes me less interested. One of the things I liked about groundbreakers like Return to Forever and Pat Metheny is that keyboards and guitars played leading roles and saxophones were originally left out. It made the music more diverse and set it apart from the abundant saxophone-driven bands.
The Vigil includes Tim Garland on tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet and flute; Charles Altura on electric and acoustic guitars; Hadrien Feraud on bass; and Marcus Gilmore on drums.
“I’m looking forward to the year’s touring with The Vigil ,” says Corea. “I love the process of trying various ways of putting the music across to our audiences. Each new experience has points to improve upon, and points that worked well can be noted and kept. How far to push the audience’s tolerance – how far to push my own and the band’s tolerance – how to stay in that wonderful area of adventure without losing contact. This is the nightly challenge. This is what makes being a musician such a joy.”
Guest artists include Pernell Saturnino on percussion; Gayle Moran Corea on vocals; saxophonist Ravi Coltrane; and long-time Corea musical collaborator, bassist Stanley Clarke.
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