Technique and then there is technique
First let me say that I enjoy the music very much. However, there is an imbalance of sorts between the two players. This is not altogether a bad thing: it is simply something I find interesting and apparent. To my ears, Chick Corea has over the years become a very fine player. He has always been a fine technician, but has matured into a fine musician as well. Again, to my ears--Bela, while also an adept technician, seems to be a less agile musical mind. His ideas sometimes seem more a result of technical prowess than musical "inspiration" for lack of a better word. I think working with Chick will probably be a huge and important step in Bela's musical development. It's a wonderful thing to see really good players turning into great players.
Hey, you got chocolate on my peanut butter
Quick, think of two things you never thought would go together and when somehow the were joined up ... what a great surprise. This is just one terrific surprise of a combination. Corea and Fleck do things together that delight the ear and keep your head nodding. Buy it, play it on sunny Sunday's in the Fall while reading the Times, while you're cooking on Saturday afternoon, when you are driving or when you can just sit down and really listen. Fun, sophisticated and an enchantment.
Best Corea album in a long, long time
Not since his first "Akoustic Band" have I enjoyed a Chick Corea album more than this duet featuring him and Bela Fleck. Indeed, ever since the days of his Return to Forever album "Romantic Warrior," which was released back in the late 70s, I have approached most Corea albums with a sense of trepidation -- I know I'll like a couple of pieces but the majority will just be too wierd or too plodding for me to make it worth buying the whole disk. Thus, it was with great surprise that I found myself enjoying all the tunes on this CD, which is a true collaboration between two great artists. I particularly like "Children's Song #6," although Corea fans will recognize it as an almost note-for-note cover of "Song to the Pharoh Kings" from Chick Coreas's best RTF outing, "Where Have I Known You Before." Didn't matter to me, though, as it is also one of the CD's best moments. I wish the two would have covered Corea's "Spain," as Fleck did a wonderful job on that piece with his early "Crossroads" album from his pre-Flectone days. But the songs, with few exception, are great and I have no trouble listening to the CD's entire 53 minutes.
If you are like me and have been turned off by some of Corea's more outlandish or experimental works of the past two decades, don't fret buying this one. Having listened to Corea since the mid-70s, I can honestly say that "The Enchantment" is exactly what its title claims--an enchanting work that counts among some of Corea's (and Fleck's) best. MBK
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