November 2000

Chick Corea
Solo Piano: Standards
Stretch

By Larry Appelbaum

Chick Corea chose to record a two-volume solo piano project last year during a tour of Scandinavia and Japan. Each concert consisted of standards in the first half and originals in the second. The standards reveal aspects of Corea's improvisational strengths; his Tatumesque runs on "Ask Me Now," the dense, dark clusters on "How Deep Is the Ocean," the dancing, single-note introduction to Monk's Dream and the playful, implied samba of "Brazil."