Chick Corea
Akoustic Band

THE REVIEW

In the late eighties, Corea felt the need to express himself not only through the electric quintet (the Elektric Band), but by resorting to what, when looking at his discography, certainly appears as one of his most congenial formations: the classic jazz trio—piano, double bass, drums. During that period, his partnership with Patitucci on double bass and Weckl on drums must have been a great source of inspiration for him, leading him to conceive a parallel ensemble to the Elektric Band which he named the Akoustic Band.

This is an acoustic trio project (meaning with non-amplified instrumentation) created with the intention of revisiting mainstream jazz standards and Corea's original compositions. The standards' repertoire is refreshed with great freshness: the entire album is characterized by beautiful melodic inventions from both Corea and Patitucci, and the interplay among the three musicians suggests a communication that borders on telepathic. It's astounding to hear how these three "monsters" can smoothly develop rhythmically enjoyable structures and at the same time move in parallel, developing impactful ideas on relatively simple musical frameworks.

Note how this fabulous interplay manages to create a unified trio sound that gives the impression of facing a series of performances for a trio as a single entity, rather than piano performances augmented by rhythm, as is often the case elsewhere. An album that deserves not just to be listened to, but savored and measured out: an exhilarating jazz that moves within very broad coordinates, as is in the tradition of the most genuine Corea, taking only cues from the mainstream to indulge in Latin American, classical, and Spanish influences. Unmissable masterpiece.