Chick Corea Memorium Poll #7: Duets

The interplay between Chick and these other monster musicians is incredible, though. Almost too incredible. But I'm glad I took more than one listen to most of these. While I was originally most familiar with his Hancock tour albums, I was surprised to find that "The Meeting" sort of blew those out of the water! I was thinking that one was going to take the cake for piano duets (after not being engaged by the Economou one), but upon hearing "Duet" with Hiromi, I had to second-guess. My only problem with that one is that there's a LOT there, and it's hard to to stay in it the whole time (since you can fit more content on CDs). There's always at least one moment (but usually three or four) where you think "did they really just do that?" A jaw-dropping moment of pure musical telepathy that could make even the most casual of music fans go ape-sh*t. On "Duet", the first one that comes to mind is this part in their rendition of Summertime where they just go off the chain. On "Two", there's just some absolutely magical moments on Brazil and Children's Song No. 6 with Béla.

Speaking of Béla, I think I adored the duets with him the most. I think my ear is most drawn to the interesting original compositions than the sprawling improvisations, and The Enchantment charmed me the most. But how could I pick it when we have these live offerings, where jazz shines best? I was close to picking Play, since the allure is described in the title itself. Bobby and Chick are really just playing and having a good time! The Mozart Sessions is definitely the odd one out, since it's really just a Classical offering with Chick's cadenzas and Bobby's intros (which are impressive). But Play was fun all the way through. However, I think I will vote for Two. It has it all. It may not have as many underwear-change-worthy moments as Duet. It may not be as jazzy as CoreaHancock. But it has jazz, classical, AND bluegrass, and it has the spontaneity and synergy of the other albums mixed with the playfulness of Play. Plus, it has most of the compositions and renditions I adore so much from The Enchantment. So Béla's live partnership wins for me today. 

Full album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtQa_5iO_Uw&t=40s

You'll probably enjoy The Enchantment the most then. The tracks are short enough that I didn't start losing concentration. And the piano and banjo sound really great together. The dual piano stuff can get quite dense.