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When you laugh in delight or tear up because you’re so moved half a dozen times during a concert, you know you’ve witnessed something special.

That’s the kind of experience you’re in for if you manage to catch The Five Peace Band in action.

At Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, California on March 21, 2009, The Five Peace Band consisted of John McLaughlin on electric guitar, Chick Corea on keyboards, Kenny Garrett on alto sax, Christian McBride on bass, and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums.

McLaughlin and Corea split the MC duties, but McLaughlin was by far the most voluble of the two. He joked that he and Corea were two old hippies and how appropriate it was that they were playing at Berkeley, which got an appreciative chuckle from the audience. You see, McLaughlin and Corea famously played on Miles Davis’ seminal Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way releases 40 years ago.

The set list followed the Five Peace Band live double CD that just came out pretty closely, but the tunes were more extended: they only managed to get through Raju; The Disguise; New Blues, Old Bruise; Senor C.S., Hymn To Andromeda, and Dr. Jackle, with an abbreviated In A Silent Way / It’s About That Time as an encore.

Unfortunately, I lost my notes for the first set, so I’ll have to rely on my memory.

With John McLaughlin’s composition Raju, the Five Peace Band hit the ground at a headlong sprint. Raju is a kind of modified blues, with short repetitive phrases chopping up the time and serving to divide solo sections. Several things became apparent during this tune. McLaughlin and Corea, far from losing a step from being senior citizens, have developed their chops and ears to the point that, no matter how complex the time signatures employed or how abstruse the harmony, these guys can just relax and play the way children draw with crayons. Any thought that comes into their head instantaneously emerges from their fingers with no lag time. In the same way, they instantly respond to any stimulus from one of the band members. The same, by the way, could be said of drummer Vinnie Colaiuta.

When McLaughlin would play repetitive phrases over the bar during his solo, Vinnie Colaiuta would often mimic him, while still keeping the groove. Corea would respond to McLaughlin’s frequent high velocity scalar assaults with sparse comping. When McLaughlin was more measured and melodic, Corea would adjust the volume of ideas pouring out of his keyboards accordingly.

The second tune was Corea’s The Disguise. Corea began the tune alone on acoustic piano, spinning lines around the tonic, recalling Drone, the 22 minute masterpiece he recorded with his group Circle some 40 years ago. Then the tune proper starts. As I recall, the basic structure was bossa nova sections separated by melodic fragments. On the bossa section, the basic tonality shifts between major and minor. Sadly, I don’t remember much more about this one except for Christian McBride’s astonishing upright bass solo. Among other amazements, McBride managed to create intricate rhythmic patterns on the bass’ upper register at blinding speed, which is no easy feat. His solo amounted to a miniature clinic on acoustic bass technique, which doesn’t mean it was the least bit dry. McBride, for all of the virtuosity displayed, played with impeccable taste.

On New Blues, Old Bruise, another tune of McLaughlin’s, the standouts were Kenny Garrett and Vinnie Colaiuta. Garrett built his solo from pentatonic scales. The way he structured it, he would stick with a pentatonic scale, which had a different function depending on the harmony in the tune at any given moment, but then Garrett  would move to an altered scale when it suited him, creating a wonderful musical puzzle. Along with that, he would play at the upper limits of the alto’s range, extending it as the solo went along.

In his solo, Colaiuta did stuff that was just insane. He’d play quarter note triplets, eight note triplets, all while keeping the crazy time signature of McLaughlin’s composition, and still manage to groove like a monster.

That was the first set.

Unbelievably, the second set was even better. It started with Senor C.S., with Corea using rubato, legato phrasing providing a bed for McLaughlin’s quicksilver lines, which were nonetheless unfailingly lyrical and melodic. After the introduction, the tune turned into a samba like rhythm in 6/8. Christian McBride’s solo on this one was notable for bebop runs that would daunt most saxophone players, played with awesome articulation. At one point during this mayhem, McBride quoted the theme to the old Max Fleischer cartoon, Popeye The Sailor Man. On the other hand, Kenny Garrett concentrated on more measured phrasing and melody, which was a suitable contrast to McLaughlin.

For me, the most rewarding tune of the evening was Chick Corea’s epic Hymn To Andromeda. Chick starts off with an extended display of avant guarde piano technique, using a mallet in his right hand to dampen the strings inside the piano while he tickles the keys with his left hand, or hit the strings directly with the mallet, or play the keys with the mallet, putting down the mallet now and then and playing with both hands. Corea also used the sustain pedals to get some brilliant effects. Again, the tune turns into a samba, but this time in 4/4, with McLaughlin and Garrett laying out. Colaiuta and McBride generated one of the most intense samba grooves I’ve ever heard, while Corea laid down sparkling single note lines. When it’s Garret’s turn, he solos over McBride’s bass ostinato while McLaughlin chords around the key center. As Garrett alto becomes more urgent, Corea and McBride play triplets as Garrett wails, making the effect even more intense.

I wish I could tell you more, but by this point, I was writing so fast that I can’t even read my own notes now. But I can tell you that Garrett’s solo and the band’s accompaniment maintained an almost unbearable climax for something like ten minutes.

I don’t know what else to tell you. This was one of the best five concerts I’ve ever seen. It’s right up there with Weather Report on the Domino Theory tour.

If there is any possible way you can catch this concert, if you have to beg, borrow or steal, hitchhike a couple of hundred miles, steal a car, I don’t care, don’t even think about it – just do it. This is seriously a once in a lifetime opportunity, folks.

And another thing: Chick Corea and John McLaughlin are old. They may act and play like 20 year olds, but they won’t be around forever. Enjoy these living legends while you have the chance.

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