Chick Corea & Béla Fleck: Two
Games of tag, call and response, leapfrog, melody and harmony swaps, and alternating solos—these are some of the musical stratagems employed by banjo ace Béla Fleck and pianist Chick Corea, caught live on two discs documenting concerts stretching back to their 2007 duo CD, The Enchantment. But there’s hardly anything formulaic about the particular kind of magic woven by these virtuosos. On paper, these instruments make strange bedfellows, seldom—if ever—sharing the same genre, much less showing up in the same ensemble. Corea and Fleck, though, make the pairing work, thanks to their collective musical ingenuity and a boundless fount of inspired ideas. Their synchronicity is amply displayed on material from The Enchantment, including “Menagerie,” with the two completing each other’s phrases and interjecting sound effects; the pretty “Waltse for Abby;” the quick-shifting “Joban Dna Nopia;” an expansive “Brazil;” the classically tinged title track; and “Armando’s Rhumba,” a bouncy Latin pleaser that’s long been part of Corea’s repertoire. New to the mix is a zippy bluegrass take on the vintage “Bugle Call Rag.” It’s all exuberant music, played by artists thriving on the kind of mutual support and generosity that allows for maximum creative freedom.