Five years ago, Chick Corea and Gary Burton celebrated the 35thyear of their vibes-piano collaboration with their first double CD,The New Crystal Silence. To commemorate the 40-year anniversary, the duo has released Hot House. The set consists of repertoire taken from some of their favorite composers and includes new arrangements of such favorites as “Eleanor Rigby” “Strange Meadowlark,” “Time Remembered,” and “Light Blue.”
Although Chick Corea and Gary Burton are a duo who don’t offer a huge portfolio of collaborations, they certainly make the most of what they have released. Witness Crystal Silence, which since its introduction in 1972, has begotten a succession of ever-more-dazzling collaborations, including Lyric Suite For Sextet, Chick Corea and Gary Burton: Live In Munich, among others, and now, missing no opportunity for a new set of duet music, Corea and Burton’s Hot House reveals two masters at work who after 40 years are as excited as ever about the music they’re playing and are genuinely enjoying themselves.
Corea and Burton employ their trusty acoustic instruments – piano and vibraphone – and which are more than sufficient to deliver a great sound that avoids sensory overload. With their prodigious power they deliver songs written by such great pianists as Monk, Evans, Tatum, Dameron, Weill and McCartney, dressed in new clothing that will surely impress the most sophisticated listeners. One new composition by Chick Corea titled “Mozart Goes Dancing,” concludes the program.
Apart from the obvious, Hot House differs from their previous collaborations due to the decades (1940s to 1960s) from which the songs emanated and the fact that not many of these songs are well-known. All of the songs sport new Corea-Burton arrangements and classic tweaks that make these songs accessible to a new generation. Check it out. Buy HOT HOUSE now.
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