Change
IfChangeis any indication, the long and dizzying career of pianist Chick Corea is again on a decided upswing. The second studio album recorded by Corea and his sextet, Origin,Changeis heavier on Corea's own compositions than was the group'sLive at the Blue Notesingle-CD debut or expandedWeek at the Blue Notesix-CD box set, and the aural evidence is that the pianist has found a wellspring of inspiration in the group's company. It isn't hard to see why. The group's rhythm section of bassist Avishai Cohen and drummer Jeff Ballard is enormously supple and elastic, swinging on everything from the midtempoMiles Davis-ish "Early Afternoon Blues" to the thrilling rhythms of "Armando's Tango" and "Little Flamenco," and the group's three horn players provide an astounding array of different textures and moods. At timesChangesounds almost like one of the spacious and groundbreaking Blue Note albums of the mid-'60s recorded by artists likeAndrew HillandJackie McLean, reverberating with a kind of freedom that unleashes the best from each musician while tempering the compositions with enough structure to keep them constantly engaging. Several of the tunes, most successfully "L.A. Scenes" and "The Spinner," jettison the familiar jazz-song format of head-solos-head in favor of a through-composed approach that pushes the group through different pieces of terrain every step of the way.--Ezra Gale