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Chick Corea Elektric Band Box Set

John Hilderbrand — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 22:41:29 +0000

I didn’t know that Chick Corea Elektric Band members John Patitucci and Frank Gambale shared the same birthday (December 22)! Happy birthday, gentlemen!

This year has been an especially good year to celebrate this all-star band. The original five Elektric Band studio albums, from 1986-1991, have been released in a deluxe 10-LP box set and a new live recording of the band on the road has been issued.

The Elektric Band, led by the late legendary pianist and composer Chick Corea, emerged in the mid-1980s as a groundbreaking force in contemporary jazz. Corea, a 27-time Grammy winner and Jazz Master of the National Endowment for the Arts, assembled a lineup including John Patitucci, Dave Weckl, Eric Marienthal, and Frank Gambale. Each of those musicians, talented in their own right, would springboard to new career highs. It was truly a remarkable band.

I still haven’t quite forgiven myself for not seeing them when they were in town around 1991.

The 10-LP vinyl box set compiles the original five GRP studio albums, presented in gatefold jackets with printed inner sleeves and restored artwork in a deluxe slipcase. This limited-edition release, for the first time, reinstates the albums to their original full running order. Additionally, the set includes reproduced memorabilia from Chick’s private archive, offering a comprehensive tribute to the Elektric Band’s creativity, innovation, and musicianship.

The Future Is Now live recording was compiled by Chick before his passing. This 3-LP vinyl and 2-disc CD album captures the band on tour from 2016-2018. It features in depth liner notes from Corea and all of the Elektric Band members.

I’m a fan of things coming full circle and these serve as a fitting closing chapter for this memorable group.

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Top Contemporary Jazz Chart – July 8, 1988

John Hilderbrand — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:51:42 +0000

Here were the top-selling contemporary jazz recordings in summer 1988, according to the July 8, 1988 issue of Billboard!

George Howard – Reflections
Bobby McFerrin – Simple Pleasures
Basia – Time and Tide
Rippingtons featuring Russ Freeman – Kilamanjaro
David Benoit – Every Step of the Way
Tim Heintz – Searching the Heart
Chick Corea – Eye of the Beholder
Dianne Reeves – Dianne Reeves
Kirk Whalum – And You Know That!
Shadowfax – Folksongs for a Nuclear Village

Entering the chart that week was a number of releases that would be headed toward the top: Spyro Gyra’s Rites of Summer, Politics by Yellowjackets, If This Bass Could Talk by Stanley Clarke, and Sade’s Stronger Than Pride.

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The Great Pumpkin Waltz

John Hilderbrand — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:19:39 +0000

The song I probably listen to most this time of year is Vince Guaraldi’s “The Great Pumpkin Waltz.” That’s a classic. Chick Corea covered it in the 1989 GRP compilation Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown! That recording in itself is great, with B.B. King, Joe Williams, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, and classic GRP artists Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, and David Benoit playing music from Peanuts specials. It’s always the Chick Corea trio of Chick, John Patitucci, and Tom Brechtlein and their top-notch recording that is the first track I queue up.

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