Listen: Béla Fleck Announces Final Duo Project with Chick Corea, Shares Title Track "Remembrance"

Listen: Béla Fleck Announces Final Duo Project with Chick Corea, Shares Title Track “Remembrance”

March 15, 2024

Photo Credit: C. Taylor Cruthers

Today, Béla Fleck announced the impending release of his last duo project with jazz titan Chick Corea. Titled Remembrance, the collection is due on May 10 via Thirty Tigers. It serves as the final showcase of the pair’s deep-rooted musical connection, which stems back to their initial offering, 2007’s The Enchantment. Fleck has dropped the title track to preview the forthcoming LP.

The final documentation of Fleck and Corea’s sonic interplay includes three previously unreleased compositions from the late piano master, in addition to five short improvisations, or impromptus, written by the 18-time Grammy Award-winning banjoist. Leaning into the specialty of the recordings, the title track shared today represents one of Corea’s last pieces of recorded music.

“It’s just one of those perfect Chick Corea tunes,” Fleck says, touching on his perception of the track. “It sounds to me like a New Orleans funeral march, even though it has a Latin component, like everything he did tended to.” Remembrance extends its range of musical experiences with the duality of live and studio cuts, some of which were captured on the duo’s final 2019 tour and through traded files sent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stylistically, the set ebbs and flows ultimately showing off the two masterful artists’ range and ability to come together as a cohesive musical force. Remembrance features tracks such as “Enut Nital,” or “Latin Tune,” spelled backward, and “Continuance,” an aged work that resurfaced in the duo’s setlist.

Also featured are newer Fleck compositions, like “The Otter Creek Incident” and “Juno,” which nod to Fleck’s son and feature interpretations of Thelonious Monk and Scarlatti. “We pushed this duo to a new place before we ran out of time,” says Fleck, who also produced Remembrance. “We have here another cool look at Chick Corea, at the different ways that he can play that we wouldn’t have had. There’s a lot of great Chick Corea out there, and this is different.”

“With Béla, our duet has become so simpatico, and comfortable–comfortable spiritually.” Corea said in 2015. “And not meaning that we’re not adventuring musically, but I know that whatever we’re going to do is going to be musical.” Notably, Corea passed away from cancer in 2021, yet his enduring jazz legacy remains prevalent as it seeps through the impending tracklist, representing a sonic continuation of his talents.

“It was one of the special relationships in my life. He was just so kind to me, and so helpful, and I learned so much from him,” Fleck added. “He found the good in everything. I’m just so glad to be a part of this — glad I could be with him, and glad there’s more to share.”

Pre-order Remembrance. Scroll down to view the album tracklist and preview the LP with the initial offering.