The Chick Corea Symphony Tribute – Ritmo (Warner Classics)
ADDA Simfònica / Josep Vicent / Emilio Solla
Released May 26, 2023
Grammy Nominee for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album 2024
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nXYs6fog4bxppxBmG3hyy4sggwYqBi8g8
Spotify:
About:
Ritmo, Tribute to Chick Corea was recorded live back in July 2021 at the ADDA Auditorium in Alicante (Spain) during the FIJAZZ Festival. Conceived and produced by conductor/drummer Josep Vicent, ADDA Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director, with arrangements by Argentinian Latin Grammy Award Winner pianist and composer Emilio Solla, RITMO is a celebration of Chick Corea’s music and its tremendous influence in contemporary Jazz and its fusion with Latin music.
Featuring 5 times Grammy Award & 14 times Latin Grammy Award winner, Cuban saxophonist PAQUITO D’RIVERA and Spanish flamenco singer and saxophonist ANTONIO LIZANA, RITMO is created for a full 80 piece Symphony Orchestra and jazz trio to produce “One of the most magnificent musical sounds that has ever existed” in the words of Chick Corea himself about Symphony Orchestras.
12 among the most iconic and remembered pieces of Corea’s immense production are revisited, reconceived and exalted through the impressive sonority of The ADDA Symphony Orchestra of Spain and the inspiration of the extraordinary soloists. Paquito de Rivera said about the project : “We all love Chick’s music, so the impeccable arranging work of Emilio, the quality and dedication of a very young and talented orchestra and conductor, plus the typical enthusiasm of the Spanish people at a the magnificent auditorium, worked all to our advantage.”
Track Listing:
1. Señor Mouse (Chick Corea) 04:51
2. Spain (Chick Corea / Joaquín Rodrigo) 05:19
3. Children’s Song No. 1 (Chick Corea) 04:10
4. Love Castle (Chick Corea) 08:35
5. Crysral Silence [Vocal Version] (Chick Corea) 06:16
6. Pixeland Rag (Chick Corea) 01:51
7. Leprechaun’s Dream (Chick Corea) 05:06
8. My Spanish Heart (Chick Corea) 06:46
9. Children’s Song No. 14 (Chick Corea) 02:28
10. Armando’s Rhumba (Chick Corea) 04:41
11. Medley: Children’s Song No. 6 & No. 20 (Chick Corea) 04:18
12. El Bozo, Pt. II (Chick Corea) 05:59
Personnel:
Orchestra ADDA·SIMFÒNICA
Music Director & Conductor: Josep Vicent
Emilio Solla: piano
Jorge Roeder: bass
Ferenc Nemeth: drums
Featuring
Paquito D’Rivera: clarinet, sax
Antonio Lizana: sax, voice
David Pastor: trumpet
Recorded live on July 1 & 2, 2021, at the ADDA Auditorium in Alicante (Spain) during the FIJAZZ Festival
Recording, Mixing and Mastering Fernando Arias
Concept and Music Production Josep Vicent
Arrangements & Orchestration Emilio Solla
Cover & Design Nacho Remón
Photo & Making of Igor Studio
Review:
It’s difficult to classify this recording, as we have the clumsy habit of labeling all genres. But we are dealing with very good music, delivered in the best possible way by an orchestra in a state of grace that’s having fun like never before, ADDA Simfònica, and its conductor Josep Vicent (cover of RITMO in April 2023), who has rhythm as deeply embedded in his DNA as Harrison Ford carries Indiana Jones with him wherever he goes.
Chick Corea’s work has been tampered with and distilled through many channels that have not favored its dissemination; in these fascinating arrangements by Emilio Solla (for example, with Spain, he manages to eliminate the greasy melodic layer that comes from Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez), which dazzle in the Children’s Song (miniatures that, orchestrated, have been transformed into pieces of dazzling beauty and timbre), Corea’s work finally occupies a commendable place within symphonic music. Even in Crystal Silence, singer Antonio Lizana avoids the usual sensationalism that these singers offer when taken out of their depth. There are songs that take us to cinematic spaces, such as Pixeland Rag, or the well-known Armando’s Rumba, where the entire team moves in a rhythmic and melodic spiral close to improvisation, although Vicent manages to keep the recipe faithful to the letter. A live recording (July 2021), with spectacular sound, that is enjoyable from beginning to end.
Gonzalo Pérez Chamorro (Ritmo.es)
