The Melbourne International Jazz Festival closed on Sunday 8 June with the headline duo of legendary pianist Chick Corea and collaborator of forty-three years vibraphonist Garry Burton.
Straight from a New Zealand concert and admittedly jet lagged, these jazz pioneers quickly put the eager Melbourne audience at ease. Corea’s relaxed humour set the tone for two playful sets moving from 1940s standards to their own songs from the 2012 ‘Hot House’, their seventh recording together.
Corea informed audience members that the night’s song list was ‘mostly written by pianists’ and based on the type of music around when ‘we were coming up as musicians’. As epitomized by ‘Waltz for Debby’, a gentle piece written by Corea’s piano idol Bill Evans in 1961, the arrangements were lush and light-footed, like 1950s film scores. Corea and Burton went on to perform the rollicking ‘Strange Meadow Lark’ by another filmic composer the legendary Dave Brubeck.
Corea recounted how a year out of high school, he moved from Boston to New York at the start of the 1960s. He was followed a year later by Garry Burton from Indiana. At that time, New York was home to a burgeoning jazz scene, with the likes of John Contrane, Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. The newcomers, Corea and Burton, needed to brush up their chops for regular Jazz jam sessions.
This duet’s performance also brought longer arrangements with extensive sheet music appearing for the warmly received rendition of Art Tatum’s ‘Can’t We Be Friends’. The audience were also pleasantly surprised by the Lennon/McCartney’s ‘Eleanor Rigby’.
After a set break, things took an upbeat turn with a Flamenco-inspired piece formerly known as ‘Rainbow Island Hawaii’. Organised in twelve beats, this piece has its roots in Spanish dance rhythms.
Following some rare minimal 70s inspired discordance, the two went back to their standards roots with another highlight ‘Chega de Saudade’ from Spanish composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. Burton had previously played this number with the Stan Getz Quartet before Corea replaced him in that line up, as Burton went on at that time to form his own band.
Throughout the concert the pairs energetic exchanges would give way to elongated sections where Burton’s double mallet style could tickle the audience.
The appearance of one of their own songs ‘Mozart Goes Dancing’ brought the crowd to a rapturous standing ovation to end off the second set. When the two returned they shifted gears into an uncharacteristic but welcome jazz/blues improvisation.
The comfort with which Corea and Burton collaborated was testament to their forty-three year partnership. Apart from Corea occasionally toweling off perspiration, there was little sign of effort as the consummate professionals strung together a series of seamless musical conversations, a night of melodic cat and mouse. On this intimate scale, the concert was a period piece of downbeat jazz. The pair lulled the audience on an arm chair ride, never pushed but cajoled patrons into a wide eared and extravagant concert event.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Chick Corea & Gary Burton Duets
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, St Kilda Rd
Melbourne International Jazz Festival
www.melbournejazz.com
8 June
