JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA OFFERS LACKLUSTER TAKE OF CHICK COREA'S 60's &70's CLASSICS

Pianist Chick Corea

For the jazz pianist, Chick Corea 2017 was a big year. The 22 time Grammy winner turned 75, and he celebrated by touring nationally and internationally. There was an unforgettable set at the Paradise Jazz Series in Detroit with Corea hitting with drummer Brian Blade and bassist Eddie Gomez. The year-long celebration ended in a month residency at the Blue Note club where Corea reunited with many of his former bandmates. As for residencies, Corea is still at it. Currently, Corea is running the streets with the famed Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. They played a 90-minute set Saturday evening at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI, the orchestra’s annual concert for the University Music Society. On paper, the pairing of one of jazz’s greatest pianist with arguably the best jazz orchestra working is a win-win. But overall, the concert was lackluster. The orchestra rehashed some of Corea’s well-known compositions from the 60’s and 70’s with key members of the orchestra such as saxophonists Sherman Irby, Ted Nash, and Victor Goines, and trumpeter Marcus Printup writing arrangements. The concert opened with “Armando Rhumba” followed by “Wigwam,” “Litha,” ”Inner Space,” and “Windows”. Corea was in excellent form the entire concert and seemed genuinely elated to be revisiting compositions he had in storage for decades. Although there was fine soloing by Henriquez on the opener and Nash when the zoom lens was cast on him, Corea didn’t have very much chemistry with the orchestra. The orchestra seemed off-kilter as if they had been on this tour too damn long and had finally run out of gas. You have to question if any of the orchestra’s lackluster-ness was because of the absence of the orchestra’s leader trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who was off somewhere tending to other obligations. The orchestra’s engine drummer Ali Jackson, and trombonist Vincent Gardner were absent, too. The JLCO University Music Society’s annual concert normally sticks to your ribs for days after, always serving up some noteworthy moments and a bunch of unforgettable solos. Sadly, this time around chance is many who attended will be hard pressed to find anything noteworthy to brag about this concert in the coming days.