Keyboardist Chick Corea occupies the rare air of a jazz superstar who can do whatever he wants.
Some of his recent whims included a 2008 reunion tour by the popular fusion quartet version from among his various Return To Forever lineups from 1972-1977, and the recent Forever CD by three of that reunion’s principals (himself, original RTF bassist Stanley Clarke and longtime drummer Lenny White). The disc also featured guests like French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, who has longtime associations with Corea and Clarke through their solo and side projects.
The 1972 albums Return To Forever and Light As a Feather were initially released under Corea’s name with a Brazilian-tinged lineup that included Clarke, vocalist Flora Purim and percussionist Airto Moreira. RTF’s 1973-1976 fusion phase introduced White (who’d met Corea as both recorded on Miles Davis’ 1970 classic Bitches’ Brew), guitarist Bill Connors, and his replacement, Al Di Meola. The group’s third installment was a short-lived, horn-heavy 1977 lineup with no guitarist, and Gerry Brown instead of White on drums.
Preparing to turn 70 last June, Corea decided it was time to recruit Clarke, White, Ponty and Australian guitarist Frank Gambale (a longtime member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band) for RTF’s fourth installment. The quintet started its United States tour in Corea’s native Massachusetts in June, and he whetted appetites for this lineup’s show Saturday at Mizner Park’s Count de Hoernle Ampitheater in Boca Raton with the free download of a live version of his classic composition Senor Mouse.
The keyboardist also upped the ante for this leg of the tour by featuring Zappa Plays Zappa, guitarist Dweezil Zappa’s tribute to his late father Frank Zappa (1940-1993), as the opening act.
Corea opened RTF’s set by introducing the melody to Medieval Overture, from the best-selling 1976 album Romantic Warrior. The thematic piece’s electric ensemble playing then led to an early highlight in the subsequent Senor Mouse.
Initially composed for Corea’s 1972 Crystal Silence duo LP with vibraphonist Gary Burton, the tune’s joyous, memorable melody is the only aspect that doesn’t change during Corea’s improvisational dialogues with his bandmates. White took the intro this time, leading to some dazzling Corea synthesizer work; exaggerated slapped bass by Clarke, a brief, telling break by Ponty and a building solo by Gambale that proved to be his best of the evening.
White then guided the band through a medley of his own compositions. Sorceress, from Romantic Warrior, featured Corea’s acoustic piano intro and a duet section with Ponty before the rest of the band joined in for its mid-tempo funk groove. A downshift into Shadow of Lo, from 1974’s Where Have I Known You Before, turned up the heat on what was already a very still, humid night.
“It’s great to see all of your shining faces out there,” Corea said to the three-quarter-capacity crowd before handing the microphone to Clarke.
“It’s hot as hell up here,” the bassist emphasized. “If your body temperature goes up, we’re responsible.”
Ponty played electric violin for most of the evening, but switched to acoustic for his composition Renaissance, from his 1975 release Aurora. White displayed a subtle touch as Corea soloed on piano and Gambale on acoustic guitar. Clarke employed an acoustic bass, and showed why his upright playing has arguably equaled or surpassed his vaunted thumping on electric. During a solo in which he slapped the neck of the bass both over and under his left fretting hand, he even engaged Ponty into playing warp-speed 32nd notes with him.
The violinist went back to electric for his best solo of the show, which occurred early in Clarke’s slow, heavy After the Cosmic Rain (from 1973’s Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy). As White, Corea and Gambale shifted into a double-time samba feel, the bassist played a bombastic solo on electric.
Corea’s Spain, the jazz standard from Light As a Feather, featured his piano intro and fingerpicked pizzicato notes by Ponty that preceded White’s best moments. The drummer’s cowbell patterns and impressive footwork led to a synth solo in which Corea coaxed the crowd to sing his notes back to him.
School Days, Clarke’s title bass anthem from his 1976 solo album, closed the 90-minute performance, and overcame some mild early sloppiness through its energy. Corea and Ponty traded notes like fighter pilots before Clarke played another extended electric solo, all before an unexpected, crowd-pleasing snippet of the Spencer Davis Group’s pop hit Gimme Some Lovin’.
Sloppiness was not a word one would associate with Zappa Plays Zappa’s divergent opening performance. Its hour-long set, in fact, likely stole the show for those more attuned to Frank Zappa’s inimitable blend of rock, jazz, humor, R&B, doo-wop, blues and classical music than to the headliner’s stately all-instrumental fusion of jazz and rock with classical undertones.
ZPZ’s eight-piece lineup of guitarists Dweezil Zappa and Jamie Kime, vocalist/trumpeter Ben Thomas, saxophonist/keyboardist Scheila Gonzalez, keyboardist Chris Norton, bassist Pete Griffin, drummer Joe Travers and percussionist Billy Hulting included intermittent lead or backing vocals by every member, assuring that no composition would lack the required vocal or instrumental firepower. Unlike RTF, Dweezil’s band (like his father’s) improvised mostly during solos, otherwise sticking to the precise, challenging original arrangements.
There were only no highlights because practically every song qualified as one. Thomas nailed Frank’s cynical vocal inflection on the bluesy opener Cosmik Debris, from the 1974 LP Apostrophe, and Dweezil’s middle solo was spot-on in mimicking his angular, speech pattern-derived notes and intonation. Five years ago, when ZPZ made its South Florida debut on the very same stage, Dweezil sounded awkward trying to mold his natural metallic style into his father’s music. No more. The kid has clearly done his homework.
An instrumental version of Fifty-Fifty, from 1973’s Over-Nite Sensation, featured the horn playing of Thomas (on trumpet) and Gonzalez (tenor saxophone), a nice middle break by Norton, and Hulting’s four-mallet expertise on marimba. Another instrumental, the alternately complex and funky Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?, from 1974’s Roxy & Elsewhere, lit even more of a fire under the Zappa fans in the audience. Travers, who had trouble getting the monitor mix of his double-bass drums to his liking during the entire set, nonetheless played thunderous fills both before and during his exchanges with Hulting, now on conga drums.
Thomas then sang the doo-wop piece What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body?, which segued into the disco parody Dancin’ Fool, before he appeared to lose his mind.
“It’s so hot here tonight,” he exulted as he jumped into the crowd. “Does anybody have a beer?”
A woman handed him a full cup, which Thomas downed without pause. During a lengthy instrumental break that then showcased the solos of Griffin and Kime, the singer returned to the stage to play muted trumpet, lie down, and sing about the shortcomings of American beer through a megaphone.
“I don’t know what happened to me tonight, Joe,” Thomas announced to a bemused-looking Travers as he exited behind his drum riser. “I was so professional last night.”
Dweezil then introduced Corea, who appropriately sat in the instrumental King Kong, a piece that Frank’s former sideman Ponty had recorded on his 1970 release King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa. The two bandleaders traded solos, often playing unison or harmony lines to the other, and smiled throughout.
As it began, the set closed with a track from Apostrophe. The 10-minute Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow medley featured more mania and mimicry by Thomas, a soprano saxophone solo by Gonzalez, and both high vocal harmonies and fleet fills by Travers.
The drummer also plays in the band led by a former Frank guitarist/keyboardist, Mike Keneally, and Travers has been the archivist for the Zappa Family Trust since 1995. As for Dweezil, his closing statement was yet another Frank-channeled solo, ensuring that his family’s trust is in multiple sets of great hands.