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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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GARY BURTON AND CHICK COREA
The Barbican, London, June 30th 2007 |
| “Who
wants to spend an hour listening to piano and vibes?”
That, according to Gary
Burton was the question posed when
it was suggested that he and pianist Chick
Corea should make a recording, following
an accidental jam session in 1972 (“Well they
asked all the performers to come up and play after
the show and we were the only two who turned up”).
Given that the Barbican is packed, and that Burton
and Corea are in the middle of a twelve month tour
celebrating 35 years of on-off collaborations that
have resulted in six albums and numerous awards,
you might judge that the answer to the perhaps rhetorical
question was “almost everyone”. Certainly
while both have maintained highly successful individual
careers their collaborative work has been outstanding,
and their live performances much anticipated. |
| Burton
is the rather reserved, scholastic, and almost Waspish-looking
vibes player who contrasts starkly with the laid
back finger-clicking eye-brow raising Corea, of
mixed Italian (Sicilian?) and Spanish descent, who
sits easily at his piano stool, and casually cracks
jokes with the audience (“switch your mobile
‘phones on, this is about audience empowerment”)
when his partner has to return to the dressing room
for some forgotten sheet music. They’re like
music’s Odd Couple – except of course
when they sit down to play – at this point
they appear to be joined at more than just the hip. |
| I
can still remember Burton from an old black and
white BBC TV recording made at Ronnie Scott’s,
more years ago than I care to remember. He’s
the guy who uses two sticks in each hand (actually
they’re called mallets, and despite the fact
that he wraps them carelessly in an old Heineken
beer towel I understand they are made to his own
exacting specifications). Before he plays he towers
above the Musser vibraphone, sticks (sorry, mallets)
in hand, with a slightly puzzled or pensive expression
on his face, as if he doesn’t quite know what’s
coming next. |
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| Maybe
he’s rehearsing his moves in his head. But
when he starts playing, with magical harmonic chords
effortlessly flowing from one to the other (‘Love
castle’), interspersed with syncopated melodies
and, on songs like ‘Bud Powell’ classic
jazz riffs – then he just becomes a blur.
Rarely will you see someone engaged with an instrument
with such intensity – I count one missed note
(“thud”) all night – otherwise
his playing is as close to perfection as you might
get. |
| It’s
easy to forget that Corea is even there. That’s
not because he’s overwhelmed by Burton’s
playing or the theatrical nature of his performance.
It’s because his accompaniments and fills
on songs like ‘Love Castle’, ‘Natural
sense’ and ‘Crystal water’ are
so delicate, subtle and perfectly attuned to Burton’s
playing that you could think that you’re hearing
one musician, one instrument. “We discovered”,
said Burton, “an immediate connection, like
two people who speak the same obscure language …”.
It’s evident to see. It’s not that Corea
is playing within himself, it’s simply that
for much of the evening his performance is an object
tutorial in “less is more”. Of course
Corea does break cover on tunes like ‘Alegria’,
his own composition (they bring out the sheet music
for this one) that begins with both artistes using
the lovely and well-polished Yamaha piano as a percussive
platform to beat out a flamenco rhythm, and particularly
‘Bud Powell’ where he and Burton swap
complex be-bop lines with ease. |
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As the unlikely pair return for their encore Corea
fools around on the vibes (“You thought there
was only one guy who could play these, huh?”)
before being joined by his partner for an unlikely
duet until he returns to his keyboard for a rousing
finale of Armando’s ‘Rhumba’.
If the audience could have had their way they would
have kept Corea and Burton on stage for a few more
hours, and hardly surprising really. Marks out of
a hundred? Almost as many as you could get. Stars?
A constellation. They’re still touring –
if you get the chance drop everything and go and
see them. - Nick Morgan (photographs by Kate) |
Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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There's nothing more down there... |
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