On Tuesday night, the Haliç Congress Centre came alive with the sounds of fusion jazz as Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke took to the stage as part of the Istanbul IKSV Jazz Festival. Treated to a journey back to the 70s, the duo shared many of their collaborations dating back to their time spent together in the band Return to Forever.
The opening number, “Sometime Ago-La Fiesta,” shimmered with a bass tremolo and the cool magic fingers of Corea, the groove kicking in as Clarke set down the beat. The interaction between the musicians was demonstrated by trading syncopated figures throughout the improvisational sections.
Recounting the creation of the next tune, composed by Clarke at the age of 18, Corea had told Clarke, “If you write this music we will name the album after this piece,” and so Light as a Feather was born. Demonstrating contemporary techniques, Corea began by dampening the strings inside the piano whilst playing and then Clarke followed with some fast-talking walking bass lines. During the first of many dynamic bass solos outlining Clarke’s versatility and dexterity, Corea graciously took the back seat providing non-obtrusive accompaniment and maintaining rhythmic control and stability.
Dipping into their mutual experience with greats such as Stan Getz and Bill Evans, the duo demonstrated seamless control and mastery of the 1961 “Waltz for Debby” (written for Evans’ niece). The beautiful piano intro strayed through a number of meters on its way to setting the waltz groove with the bass on the first beat.
Next came the famous “Armando’s Rhumba” from the album My Spanish Heart, recorded in 1976 and written by Armando Anthony “Chick” Corea. This toe-tapping Latin number, which allowed Corea to explore the Latin side of his musical heritage, combined the intricate unison playing of the melodic lines with the improvisational solos. Although the original has the fast playing violin of Jean-Luc Ponty, Clarke ripped out an awesome solo showing his mastery of playing high on the fingerboard. The musical ingenuity of Corea’s contrapuntal lines definitely made this a crowd favourite of the evening.
Other highlights of the concert included the tracks “Romantic Warrior” and “No Mystery” where Corea showed his sensitive, light touch on the keys and amazing creativity as a composer, and Clarke used the bow to create some haunting bass drones and melodies. During Clarke’s bass feature, Corea actually left the stage, drawing the audiences’ focus to the mesmerizing bassist. He utilised every technique possible in his solo from strumming the double bass like a guitar, to alternating between bass plucking and creating chords. But his final cadenza of descending Bach-style arpeggios was the perfect ending to this masterful display.
With such a successful career one would think that Chick Corea himself would have featured more prominently. However, he seemed happy to cast the light on his musical companion in true humble ‘Chick’ fashion. If you ever get the chance to see this musical genius live, don’t hesitate — you won’t be disappointed.
Sally McDonald is a contributor to Yabangee and the owner of Foodie Frolics, which allows her to explore the city for great food and wine experiences, and plan private food & wine pairing events, cooking classes, walking tours and more!
