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Then Hancock joined fellow crossover artist Chick Corea for a series of duet piano concerts, which reconfirmed both players as skilled and important improvisationsts. Both the Quintet and the piano tour served to generate among fusion fans an interest in mainstream jazz, and both were commercially successful. But both projects seem to have been dropped, and Herbie Hancock is back on the road with his funk band...
...MUSIC. Ah yes, well, there is music on this album, some of it very good, for those willing to wade through all the extraneous hype. Chick Corea (and RTF is Corea's band) always plays well; the success or failure of his records usually depends on the musicians he chooses and the selections he plays. The results here are uneven. Versions of flashy but vapid tunes from Musicmagic (1977) comprise the first two discs. The band is tight, but the intricate mini-fugues and pompous fanfares that highlight the horns still sound gratuitous. The vocal sections are disappointing; Chick...
...Corea continually rearranged the group's charts during the tour, and in spots they bear the stamp of an impressive musical imagination. In the middle of Clarke's "Hello Again," Chick has the bass leap into a swinging stride figure, then covers a couple of choruses in classic cabaret-style piano. The moment is totally unexpected, and it inspires an otherwise weak composition. The big-band funk of "Musicmagic" becomes a vehicle for extended solo exchanges--Corea duels with Clarke's hard rocking bass, Joe Farrell's jazzy reed lines, and workhorse Gerry Brown's polyrhythmic drums...
...gutsy jazz singer's standard. Serenade features Joe Farrell's tenor sax, an undersung quantity if there ever was one. Stanley Clarke performs a lengthy acoustic bass solo that is more a technical coup than a creative improvisation. His sheer enthusiasm makes the cut listenable despite serious intonation problems. Corea begins the show's finale with a 17 minute piano solo. His playing is so damned interesting that he very nearly carries off this whole venture by himself, and here, on his own, he imaginatively probes his Spanish roots and builds to the concert's climax...
...Corea segues into the opening chords of his "Spanish Fantasy" suite, easily the best ensemble piece on the album. The horns really cook, belying their earlier sterile proficiency. Clarke's electric bass works beautifully, and Corea is literally all over the place--playing synthesizer, playing piano, stamping his feet with excitement. Appropriately, the encore is a Corea-Clarke duet; the chemistry between the two is obvious as they perform a free improvisation that is loosely based on the bop standard "On Green Dolphin Street...