What’s new?
Tunes On Tuesday enters its second year this week. For the new year in tunes, I’m changing the format to add more of my playing to the weekly story. In the weekly video, you’ll hear my version of the tune of the week accompanying the weekly story about why it deserves attention and matters to me. I hope you continue to enjoy this weekly feature.
Why this tune?
The music world lost a giant last week with the untimely death of Chick Corea. I’m celebrating his life and work by rediscovering his music, and discovering much of it for the first time.
Like many jazz players and fans around my age, I found my way to the music through Chick Corea’s work, especially albums from the 1970s with the fusion band Return To Forever. This week’s tune appeared on the first RTF album in 1972. Corea played electric piano on the RTF recording, and recorded it again on acoustic piano as the title track of a superb duet album with Gary Burton in 1973.
Dig this detail!
Playing this tune gave me a deeper appreciation of Corea’s brilliance as a pianist. He has a precise, percussive touch on the instrument, and plays beautifully crafted lines and phrases at every speed. That technical mastery supports his harmonic and melodic creativity and range.
Hear the story
Check it out!
My version of “Crystal Silence”
Chick Corea and Return To Forever
Chick Corea and Gary Burton (live)
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 