Chick Corea
Three Quartets

In his rich discography, Corea has always sought, following various paths, to create a kind of fusion of styles without worrying too much about what his most ardent detractors might think of his showmanship and his "openings" toward genres far from jazz.

Corea's long career is peppered with many episodes that clearly demonstrate what his most genuine intentions have always been: the Italian-American pianist continues even today to enjoy himself and get excited by breaking the barriers of styles and not being content to stay regimented within the jazz mainstream. Corea much prefers to move in fusion/cross-over musical contexts, highly disregarding the fact that purists might frown.

In "Three Quartets" the pianist tries to harness the fundamental elements of jazz, namely the dancing matrix ("movement") and improvisation, within the structures typical of classical music. There are other attempts within his discography motivated by the same intent, but I particularly like "Three Quartets" because I find it extremely stimulating and refreshingly new. In other words, listening to it today, "Three Quartets" has lost none of the allure and freshness it had when conceived by Corea in the early eighties. This fact alone would already be enough to place it among my all-time favorite albums because the time of survival to repeated listening, in my opinion, is precisely the fundamental variable that can allow the final verdict to be issued if one is faced with a masterpiece or a work that could also have been done without.

In the original quartet, alongside Corea, we find Eddie Gomez on double bass, Steve Gadd on drums, and Michael Brecker on sax. It's pointless to spend words on the value of these four giants of contemporary music; I would instead invite you to consider the intrinsic value of the compositions, beyond the added value brought by the interpretations of these great musicians. It can certainly be said that the three quartets played a central role in the development of Corea's style and poetics, just considering the fact that the three compositions that in suite form constitute the "Three Quartets" have been revisited by Corea on various occasions and with formations different from the original one.

I myself have had the fortune to appreciate the same program live in a concert where Bob Berg replaced Michael Brecker and also during a concert of the Chick Corea Akoustic Band (with John Patitucci on double bass and Dave Weckl on drums) when it was still in its early stages.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this album, and if you like it as much as I did, don't miss the DVD version containing "Three Quartets" performed live in concert by the same original lineup, but almost thirty years later, available in the "Rendez Vous in New York" box set, which also contains much other very interesting material by Corea (which perhaps we will have the opportunity to talk about elsewhere).