CHICK COREA
Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (Blue Note)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson


Back in the vinyl days, when time was much more an issue than it is now, a lot of outstanding music ended up in aluminum cannisters in recording studio storage rooms. The CD age has brought about the rescue of much of that material, thank God. When this 1968 recording session's thirteen tracks were whittled down to five for release on Solid State Records, who knew? Well, this isn't the first time it's been re-released with all 13 tracks, but it's the first time it's been remixed and remastered in 24-bit sound, and yes, it does make a clear difference.

Now He Sings, Now He Sobs was recorded at an interesting point in Corea's career, very early and just after what you'd have to call his true apprenticeship phase, when he'd played with Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Hubert Laws, Sonny Stitt, and most notably a fairly long stint with Blue Mitchell. He'd already done a small handful of albums as leader and his mind was always working out ideas and configurations, lineups and places to take the music that it hadn't gone yet. He took Miroslav Vitous (bass) and Roy Haines (drums) into A&R Studios in New York over a three day period and recorded these thirteen pieces, eleven of them his own, some fighting the leash of exploratory jazz that gets a little - dare I say - free, but many staying within the standard bounds of hard bop and on the side of fragile beauty. I enjoy it all, but I always get the biggest kick from the places with no path. Vitous and Corea's cat and mouse game in "Gemini," made all the more interesting by the pauses between each instrument's part, is a classic example of what's great about this album.

When Corea and the guys take on Monk's "Pannonica," it feels like the segue out of "Gemini," coming right after a solo bass line with a nice and easy swing that feels so right. So natural and yet it wasn't on the original record. Ah, well, they only had one groove to fill, right? Now He Sings, Now He Sobs makes up for the limitations of days gone by. Some might expect there would be tracks here better left in the can, but I don't hear any. Maybe it's because Chick Corea fascinates me and whenever I have a chance to get into his mind like this, I'm a willing passenger. I know there's mathematics going on around me, I know there's calculated risks being taken, but with Vitous and Haines keeping the rotors turning, I'll fly high above the city lights on whatever you deem to call the "worst" Corea composition here. You're clutching at straws.

Track List:

Steps-What Was * Matrix * Now He Sings, Now He Sobs * Now He Beats the Drums, Now He Stops * The Law of Falling and Catching Up * Samba Yantra * Bossa * I Don't Know * Fragments * Windows * Gemini * Pannonica * My One and Only Love

© 2002 - DJ Johnson