Chick Corea
Rendezvous in New York (Image)
The numbers add up: nine bands of 23 players helping Chick Corea improvise for 21 nights, documented on 10 DVDs. Corea’s jazz-elder standing arises from work with Miles Davis (Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way), solo albums, the seminal fusion outfit Return to Forever, and gigantic keyboard skills. For Rendezvous, Corea invited alumni and friends to perform at NYC’s Blue Note in celebration of his 60th birthday in late 2001. The lineups range from duos to large ensembles, including Michael Brecker, Christian McBride, Steve Gadd, Bobby McFerrin, Joshua Redman, and Terence Blanchard, and of course they can only sound so good onscreen as compared to how they sound live. Yet one has to hand it to Corea: Aside from powerhouses like Keith Jarrett, it’s hard to imagine another contemporary pianist ballsy enough to attempt such an endeavor and accomplished enough to pull it off. In theory, it sounds too good to be true. In praxis, it’s just good. Highlights: a duet with Cuba piano force Gonzalo Rubalcaba, anything with Roy Haynes on the trap set, musicians giving Corea props on disc 10’s documentary, and the hard bop meets classical in “Quartet No. 2, Part 2” by the Three Quartets Band. Tasteful camera POVs concentrate as much on countenances as hand movements, and playback comes in stereo, Dolby 4.0, and DTS 4.0. Rendezvous proves Chick Corea one of the most versatile jazz composers, band leaders, and players going.
This article appears in December 23 • 2005.