Chick Corea
Piano Improvisations Vol. 2
ECM Records (Germany) 1972
ECM 1020 ST (LP) Original pressing. Coated sleeve.
MAT : A1/B1
sleeve : VG+(color-faded, peeling-off of lamination)
media : EX/EX(some slightly noise)
Released in 1972, this was Chick Corea’s second album for ECM. The jazz pianist had been personally selected by Miles Davis to appear on landmark recordings including In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and On the Corner, and would go on to spark a major fusion movement with his own 1972 masterpiece Return to Forever. True to its title, the album consists entirely of solo piano performances rooted in free improvisation. Even interpretations of pieces such as Wayne Shorter’s “Masqualero” and Thelonious Monk’s “Trinkle Tinkle” expand freely from the images suggested by the original compositions into extended improvisations. As with Vol. 1, Corea’s spiritual and religious sensibilities are vividly expressed throughout, resulting in a deeply emotional and profound masterpiece. B3 is especially extraordinary, with the piano lines rising to an almost ecstatic intensity as though attempting to express the entirety of the natural and cosmic world. Original German pressing with laminated sleeve, no spine text, no label code, and no “MADE IN GERMANY” notation.
A1: After Noon Song
B3: Departure from Planet Earth