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The New Crystal Silence

Chick Corea & Gary Burton

When they teamed up in 1972 to play in a piano-vibraphone setting, little did Chick Corea and Gary Burton realize that 35 years later their duo would continue to expand its modern chamber music approach to jazz with full introspection and exhilaration. Even though their serendipitous debut, Crystal Silence, was released on Germany-based ECM Records, which at the time did not have a distribution deal in the U.S., the album not only forged the alchemic partnership, but also brought to renown the deep and insightful collaboration of the two virtuosic improvisers. After their premiere outing, they recorded four more albums and have never skipped a year performing together.

In celebration of the Corea-Burton duo’s 35th anniversary, they released The New Crystal Silence, a double CD featuring the pair performing with the Sydney Symphony and as a duet captured in a sublime performance at the Molde Jazz Festival in Molde, Norway. The orchestral concert bears the fruit of an invitation from two symphonies in Australia, in Perth and Sydney, which offered the twosome the opportunity to perform and record their repertoire in an orchestral setting. As for the duo disc, Corea and Burton marked their long relationship onstage of anticipating each other’s musical ideas by embarking on a worldwide tour and then chose one of their best performances to document.

Writing in The New Crystal Silence liner notes, Burton reflects:

I’ve always held the theory that all musical collaborations, particularly among jazz musicians, eventually run their course as players evolve and everyone moves on to new ventures. But, I’ve come to believe that what Chick and I have together is going to break that rule. The performing we have done over the past year has been our best in 35 years, and we are very pleased to make it available on these CDs.” He adds, “We both feel that our music has evolved in the last 10 years more than it did before. We play the tunes very differently, with fresh concepts and new inspiration.
Gary Burton
Chick agrees:
The way we were approaching the music during our 35th anniversary concert tour was so different that I thought it warranted documentation. Gary’s playing continues to amaze and inspire me. The tours we’ve done over this past year are my favorites of all that we’ve done. There’s more to come, but here is a slice of what we’re into these days.
Chick Corea

Disc 1

  1. Duende
  2. Love Castle
  3. Brasilia
  4. Crystal Silence
  5. La Fiesta

Disc 2

  1. Bud Powell
  2. Waltz for Debby
  3. Alegria
  4. No Mystery
  5. Señor Mouse
  6. Sweet and Lovely
  7. I Loves You, Porgy
  8. La Fiesta