Chick Corea
Now He Sings Now He Sobs

THE REVIEW

As a young man I had this album on LP (or recorded on cassette?) and as soon as the CD edition came out, years ago, I bought it for both sentimental and musical reasons of specific value. Recorded in '67 and released the following year, as the first trio album (after 'Tones For Joan's Bones', which certainly deserves mention!) the album showcases all the skill, the desire to 'say beautiful things' and to approach the musical world as a protagonist by a young yet already established Chick (Gerardo Armando Corea from Calabrian parents), who at that time was under the wing of Herbie Mann, stolen by Stan Getz, after passing through the school of Blue Mitchell and having capitalized on Horace Silver. Amen.

The Afro-Caribbean influence is strong but is significantly mellowed in this solo trio album, managing to finally offer for the first time, it may seem cliché to say now after almost forty years, the… pianism of Chick Corea! Roy Haynes on drums and Miroslav Vitous (classical performer, from the Prague conservatory) on double bass contribute to drive the execution of the tracks towards a more ethereal dimension, compared to the surrounding scene of the late sixties, but still full of swing and solidity. Vitous's touch on the double bass is recognizable from twenty meters and from the first notes. There is a palpable level of concentration and attention, ensuring that no drop in tension is found in a recording that maintains its freshness and originality over the years.

In the CD reissue, we find no less than eight bonus tracks*: this should already suffice to stop reading and click somewhere to order it! Thirteen tracks in total, all by Chick except 2 (Melin/Wood) and 9 (Monk). Gentle or fast themes, just to make clear where pure technique resides with prodigious tone balance and dynamics alternate with medium swing pieces. Haynes's contribution is impeccable, discreet, energetic, and full of imagination. Vitous, who shortly thereafter would initiate one of the most beautiful creations in the history of contemporary music, Weather Report, in performing the pieces masterfully creates a block of notes, mostly mid-high, as a solid and incessant harmonic counterpoint, providing sturdy support to the central flow of notes of Chick, here indeed extremely original, fresh, aggressive, and functional as well as modern and unusual compared to the jazz of those years, essentially classic be-bop. Already ready for a substantially electric and disruptive leap forward: Davis is, in fact, there, patiently somewhere in the clubs listening to catch him 'on the fly'. Even this, by itself, constitutes another significant reason for the purchase. 'My One And Only Love', a famous standard, is rendered here admirably. Medium tempo and personality. Swing and elegance at the helm. 'Pannonica' should just be savored (perhaps with a glass of Maraschino this time?) slowly, to smile under the moustache and find a very personal transposition of Corea's unmistakable and already mature style in Monk's piece, a composition inseparable from the monk's personal and unrepeatable pianism.

Unmissable; especially now that it has thirteen tracks. Mandatory. Absolutely.

  1) Matrix 
  2) My one and only love*
  3) Now he beats the drums now he stops
  4) Bossa *
  5) Now he sings now he sobs
  6) Steps-what was
  7) Fragments*   
  8) Windows*
  9) Pannonica*
10) Samba Yantra*
11) I don’t know*
12) The law of falling and catching up
13 Gemini*