Remembrance Chick Corea & Béla Fleck

• 1The Otter Creek Incident06:28
• 2impromptu III: march hare01:54
• 3Enut Nital05:35
• 4impromptu II: mock turtle02:14
• 5Bemsha Swing05:38
• 6Lucky Bounce06:30
• 7impromptu I: cheshire01:34
• 8Remembrance06:26
• 9Juno05:41
• 10Scarlatti Sonatas07:22
• 11impromptu V: jabberwocky01:47
• 12Small Potatoes03:41
• 13Continuance07:29
• 14impromptu IV: gentleman fish01:25
• Total Runtime01:03:44

Info for Remembrance

When the 18-time Grammy® Award-winning banjoist Béla Fleck speaks of his years-long collaboration with the late pianist Chick Corea, he can sound like a bashful student musician, still obviously in awe of the jazz titan whose impact transformed him as a teenager in the '70s. "I just feel so lucky to have played with him in such an intimate way, and to have gotten to know him so well," Fleck says.

Remembrance, a 2024 double album, serves as a moving final document of the profound creative and personal rapport that Fleck and Corea first showcased at album length with 2007's Latin Grammy-winning The Enchantment. It's also a crucial addendum to Corea's legacy, featuring three previously unreleased Corea compositions as well as five short free improvisations, or impromptus, that Fleck has infused with written music. Recorded both in concert, during the duo's final tour dates in 2019, and via traded sound files, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, Remembrance runs the stylistic gamut — from Fleck tunes like the majestic "The Otter Creek Incident" and "Juno," a winsome tribute to his son, through clairvoyant interpretations of Thelonious Monk and Scarlatti, to challenging exercises, like Fleck's "Small Potatoes," that evoke Corea's unsung work in the jazz avant-garde. "We pushed this duo to a new place before we ran out of time," says Fleck, who 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."

Ultimately, Corea's unreleased tunes are perhaps the most affecting element of the set. Those pieces include "Enut Nital" (or Latin Tune, spelled backwards); "Continuance," an older work that resurfaced in the duo's setlist; and the bittersweet dance of the title track. "'Remembrance' is just one of those perfect Chick Corea tunes," Fleck says. "It sounds to me like a New Orleans funeral march, even though it has a Latin component, like everything he did tended to."

Corea's death in 2021, of cancer at age 79, devastated the jazz community, who saw the pianist as a constant international presence, a vibrant musician who never ceased touring and recording. "It was a deep shock," says Fleck, who also released an inspired live project with Corea, Two, in 2015. "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." "He found the good in everything," Fleck adds. "I'm just so glad to be a part of this — glad I could be with him, and glad there's more to share."

Chick Corea, piano
Béla Fleck, banjo

Chick Corea
An NEA Jazz Master, 16-time Grammy® winner, prolific composer and undisputed keyboard virtuoso, Chick Corea has attained living legend status after four decades of unparalleled creativity and an artistic output that is simply staggering.

From straight ahead to avant-garde, bebop to fusion, children’s songs to chamber music, along with some far-reaching forays into symphonic works, Chick Corea has touched an astonishing number of musical bases in his illustrious career while maintaining a standard of excellence that is awe-inspiring. A tirelessly creative spirit, Chick Corea continues to forge ahead, continually reinventing himself in the process.

Chick Corea began his career with apprenticeships with the likes of Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis’s band, where he participated in such landmark sessions as In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. Embarking on a solo career in 1966, Chick Corea has been at the forefront of jazz, both as a renowned pianist forging new ground with his acoustic jazz bands and as an innovative electric keyboardist with Return to Forever and the Elektric Band. His extensive discography boasts numerous essential albums, beginning with his 1968 classic, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs.

Chick Corea continues to make a significant impact on the scene, as evidenced by 2007’s Grammy®-winning The Enchantment (duets with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck), 2008’s The New Crystal Silence (duets with long-standing collaborator Gary Burton), 2009’s Returns (documenting Return To Forever’s 2008 reunion tour) and 2009’s Grammy®-winning Five Peace Band Live (with John McLaughlin, Christian McBride, Kenny Garrett and Vinnie Colaiuta).

2011 demonstrated Chick Corea’s virtuosity in all its forms: he mounted a hugely successful world tour with Return to Forever IV, received a Latin Grammy® for the Corea, Clarke & White album Forever, released the acclaimed piano duet album Orvieto with Stefano Bollani, recorded his second concerto, The Continents, with a 30-piece orchestra (due for release on Deutsche Grammophon in February 2012) and capped the year with a month-long, career-spanning residency at New York’s Blue Note, featuring ten bands, including John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock and Bobby McFerrin.

This album contains no booklet.