Stars align, again

 I've come to the conclusion that I just can’t have too much Chick Corea in my life. With Mrs. S and I celebrating our 18^th wedding anniversary last Friday, we made our way through iffy weather and traffic conditions to Nashville, to fight Eric Clapton’s fans for parking spaces, enjoy a good meal, and hear Bela Fleck and Chick Corea play together for the first time in something like four years. Parking ended up being $25, but we were right in front of the concert hall and outside, so we could make a (relatively) quick and clean getaway. Dinner was up the street at Prime 108 inside the Union Station Hotel. We couldn't get the tasting menu because of time constraints, but we had nice seafood (scallops for her, lobster ravioli for me) with a nice Chilean sauvignon blanc. And from there, to the concert.

Well, at least it not crowded.

We saw Bela Fleck last year with the Alabama Symphony and were sort of wondering what he could do together with Chick Corea. Having seen Chick with Gary Burton just two months ago, we were more than excited to see him again. (The Corea/Burton concert was one of my top three all time.) Turns out that Chick is an inspiration and influence on Bela from many years ago, and they actually did a recording together a couple of years back. Since most of the music was off that recording and I don’t own it, I was unfamiliar with most of the songs.

Two man set up. Of course, you can face a lid-less piano in any direction you want, so our strategy to get  left of center seats so we could see Chick's hands did NOT pay off.

Honestly, Bela is really, really good, and it was fascinating to watch him pull off the notes and riffs, and lead the piano riffs in call and answer fashion. Quite impressive and extremely melodic. What I did notice, however, is that Fleck lacks a bit of jazz sensibility about him. He’s not very bluesy sounding, and the parts that I recognized as solos seemed more taken out of bluegrass than blues. There’s nothing wrong with that, mind you, it just wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for. As a composer, however, I was really impressed. Fleck’s “Waltse for Abbey” turned out to be a show stealer, and it was no wonder Corea said “Waltse” was one of his favorites. It showed.

Joban Dna Nopia to you!

Still, Chick’s playing made it for me. I loved what he did with their co-written (I think) tune, “Joban Dna Nopia”, and he really jazzed up Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed”. They did an older Fleck composition that was clever, called “Bicyclops”. (Chick: “What’s that mean?” Bela: “Same as Joban Dna Nopia.”) They closed with “Children’s Song #6” and “Spectacle”. Children’s song was a curious fantasy of a song, woven over a blues riff, with standard jazz progressions interlaying with rivulets of high note arpeggios and streams of cascading bass notes really booming out of the lid-less 9-foot Steinway. Spectacle was just nifty with the banjo sounding like a piano and the piano sounding like a banjo, and back and forth like that. It’s hard to explain.

Although I really feel it for two days afterward, driving to and from Nashville just for concerts does have its upside. Big name players like Bela and Chick don’t come around very often, so when they come around together, it’s worth making a special effort to see them and to secure those front row seats. Doesn’t make for a bad anniversary celebration, either.