Chick Corea Elektric Band
Elektric Band

A superlative album for a 1986 Chick Corea debut with the Elektric Band. Exceptional musicians make up his band, such as the usual Dave Weckl on drums and John Patitucci on electric and double bass, with the participation of guitarists Scott Henderson in "King Cockroach" and Carlos Rios in "Sidewalk", "Cool Weasel Boogie", and "Elektric City".

An album marked by futurism and new electronic trends within the fusion realm, with Yamaha providing the best of its keyboards in front of the genius of Chick Corea, who in this new, more new age guise does not disappoint in the slightest.

The album opens with "City Gate", a very soft and atmospheric prelude that flows into the eclectic virtuosity of "Rumble", one of the most beautiful fusion pieces ever, which Chick Corea, not by chance, reprises in each of his concerts with the Elektric Band; it's a groove that allows for sudden and insistent rhythmic progressions. Here we are at "Sidewalk", the piece I prefer and love to play the most, with Weckl opening with a stunning rhythm and Rios adding almost "metal rock" chords; Chick Corea's synth breaks in, creating a truly thrilling melody, as does Rios’s solo.
With "Cool Weasel Boogie", Chick Corea offers a groove that is certainly noteworthy, off the musical schemes traced in the previous tracks, much more relaxing and less synth-laden, with more space for the Rhodes.
"Got A Match" is the pinnacle of ostentation and virtuosity contained in the album: a mixture of musical genres, an insistent jazz rhythm with bossa overtones, fronted by a synth that bursts with Latin cadences and doesn't stop.
With "Elektric City", we return to the "Rumble" and "Sidewalk" style fusion and Carlos Rios's electric guitar, but the rhythm follows a false Latin style.
"No Zone" almost seems to be a soft instrumental composition in the style of 1980s Pink Floyd, allowing space for avant-garde sounds and captivating melodies, yet it turns towards a jazz rhythm that disrupts the created atmosphere.
"King Cockroach" is another masterpiece, starting with the Rhodes solo, with a very well-calibrated sound towards the soft side, but as the drums kick in, it transforms into a much more insistent fusion sound, followed by the masterful accompaniment of Scott Henderson, who does his part with the fusion master-class improvisations he is known for.
"India Town" and "All Love" have a much more romantic and atmospheric sound, tending towards pop, and "Silver Temple" splendidly closes the album with rhythms and melodies at the height of virtuosity.

"The Chick Corea Elektric Band" is an album that made the history of modern fusion, whose foundations have been revisited and reprised by modern fusion groups and which cannot be missing from a genre enthusiast’s archive.