Chick Corea

[John Korsrud]

Anybody see the show last night?
Any thoughts?
jk

[Morgan Childs]

Disclaimer: The sound from where I was sitting was actually GREAT (quelle surprise to find out that Chick brings his own soundman).

This was the highlight of my year, so far, as far as shows that I've seen. Everyone played great. Christian McBride is the real deal... endless groove, real creativity, chops, and apparently he was basically reading most of the music.

Chick played some gorgeous stuff... it was extremely tasteful, edited, clean, and wonderful playing.

Jeff Ballard is a monster, and of course, was the highlight of my night. What a gas! A real pleasure to listen to, he brings serious beauty to the drums. A seasoned pro at the height of his powers... pure creativity, flow, beautiful sound, touch, all kinds of unique things going on refrencing everything from Samba to West African to Roy Haynes to Changuito! Killin killin killin...

[Steve]

I thought the show was great as well. I expected the sound to suck (as per previous concerts I've seen at the Orpheum) but was actually pretty good. Note.... it wasn't great but near impossible to do in a venue that size. The music was georgous even though I'm sure the majority of the people there just wanted to hear Spain! Haha.

Those musicians are all on such a high creative level that I can't even come close to appreciate or understand what they're doing. I kind of liken it to looking at art by the Picasso, Renoir et al. I can't understand what they're doing.. all I can do is appreciate it the best I can and revel in the complete mastery that they have. It was a fantastic show.

[John Korsrud]

I thougt the concert was really great too. A real highlight. My first time seeing him live and maybe one of the only times hearing him on acoustic piano. I was sitting close to the front so I was hearing more speaker and not enough live sound, but I guess when you are trying to fill a 2500 seat theatre it's what you have to do, even though the Orpheum is an excellent acoustic venue. You can get away with minimal amplification there. I was surprised they played as many standards as they did, but as Chick said, this was their first time together. That made me a bit nervous...will this be a meandering jam session? Wrong! But boy did they all kick ass. A real satisfying show.
I was surprised he did play Spain at the end. I wonder if he pays it evey gig. The crowd was sure shouting for it come encore time.