Fifty-year musical partnerships are rare. But the bond between keyboard virtuoso Chick Corea and master drummer Steve Gadd is legendary: five decades after they first met, Corea and Gadd are making some of the most vital, adventurous music they’ve ever created. Barn-storming funk-based workouts, dazzling and intimate lyrical excursions and Spanish-hearted improvisations set a new standard for no-boundaries jazz. And thankfully, they caught it on tape.

Chinese Butterfly, Corea & Gadd’s debut two-disc studio album, featuring five epic new Corea compositions, is scheduled for release January 19, 2018 via Concord Jazz. The album’s title hints at the rare and transfixing beauty of its music. Chick and Steve use their shared history of fearless innovation as a launching pad, pushing into new territory with an inspired band of collaborators: Benin-born guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke, saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson, Cuban bassist Carlitos Del Puerto, and Venezuelan percussionist Luisito Quintero.

The album is the realization of a long-held desire that Chick and Steve shared, to work together more intensively. “Whenever Chick and I bump into each other, we’re always talking about playing music together,” Gadd says. “After many years of saying that, we finally put some time aside.”