The Beginning - Chick Corea

Mar

29

The Beginning - Chick Corea

≡ Category: 1970s, Avant-Guarde, Essential, Free Jazz, Music Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

The Beginning brings together several selections featuring Chick Corea (piano, percussion), Barry Aschtul (drums, percussion), and Dave Holland (bass). The music is mostly avant guarde and free jazz, very different from the very accessible Brazilian flavored jazz Corea would be playing two years later with Return to Forever.

Curiously, for those who aren’t familar with avant guarde jazz and are a little hesitant to explore it, these recordings represent an excellent opportunity because the playing, as exploratory and experimental as it is, is finely attuned to the nuances of tone and form.

In this case, avant guarde does not mean harsh or ugly. Chick Corea, in particular, seems incapable of playing anything that doesn’t have a singing quality and which does not bristle with intelligence.

The best example of this, and the highlight of this compilation is the 22 minute plus Drone.

Holland sets the pattern for the tune right away, with a pedal point pulse on the bass, which he decorates with figures that wind around the tonic. Corea begins exploring the implications of this scheme, spinning out melodies that spiral further and further from the tonal center established by Holland. As these melodies become more elaborate and wild, Corea starts to deviate from the pulse with his left hand, pounding out counter rhythms, while still keeping the original pulse within striking distance. Aschtul mirrors the ideas and conception of Corea on percussion. Just when the piece seems poised to descend into complete anarchy, it backs off a bit and Holland takes a bass solo, using his take on Corea’s ideas. Corea comes back in and Holland drops out. Corea then starts to rebuild the edifice from fragments that become heavier and more dissonant, in some cases using the piano as a percussion instrument, including strumming and tapping the strings inside of the piano. This is Aschtul’s cue to take over from Corea, emulating his fragmentary exposition.

Never once does any of this sound like noise for the sake of noise.

Corea resumes from where he came in, blustering with sheets of sound that are as far removed from the drone as possible while still being distantly related to it. Then the drone stealthily resumes, demonstrating that everything that came before is indeed related. Gradually, the spiral reverses, the melodic lines hewing closer and closer to the tonal center established in the beginning by Holland. In the end, it’s just Holland with the steady pulse of the bass, bringing to a close one of the greatest performances in the history of jazz, let alone avant guarde jazz.

If this were the only track on the entire CD, The Beginning would still be an easily recommended purchase.

The rest of the tracks aren’t up to that exalted level, but they are quite listenable, highlighting three extraordinarily empathetic musicians, who are constantly listening to what the others are doing and commenting, creating a musical conversation that you can follow.