''Three Quartets'' is a jazz album released in 1981 by American jazz pianist

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...

, in collaboration with saxophonist Michael Brecker, bassist Eddie Gómez and drummer Steve Gadd.

Composition

All compositions are by Corea who wanted to create an album of quartets like the many string quartets of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

, Classical,

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

and

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

periods, but with jazz instrumentation. "Quartet No. 1" uses a 1-chord (G altered) solo

vamp The VaMP driverless car was one of the first truly autonomous cars Dynamic Vision for Perc ...

over a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

beat in 3/4, and a repeated theme that uses stacked fourths. The second track, "Quartet No. 2 (Part I)" is a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, dedicated to jazz pioneer

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

, incorporating many of the Western classical harmonies and tensions that Ellington used in much of his playing. "Quartet No. 2 (Part II)" is dedicated to jazz saxophone legend John Coltrane.

Track listing

All compositions by Chick Corea except as noted. #"Quartet No. 1" – (10:16) #"Quartet No. 3" – (9:41) #"Quartet No. 2" - Part I (Dedicated to

)" – (7:09) #"Quartet No. 2" - Part II (Dedicated to John Coltrane)" – (12:01) The CD reissue contains several tracks that were recorded during the same sessions as the original album but not released at the time. These are:

"Folk Song" – (5:51)
"Hairy Canary" – (3:43)
"Slippery When Wet" – (6:02)
"Confirmation" (
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
) – (6:17)

Corea plays drums on "Confirmation" instead of Steve Gadd.

Personnel

Musicians * Chick Corea –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

; drums (track 8) * Michael Brecker –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

* Eddie Gómez –

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

* Steve Gadd –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(tracks 1-7) Production * Bernie Kirsh – recording and mixing engineer * Duncan Aldrich – assistant engineer * Joel Strote – associate executive producer * Adam Zelinka – post producer * Stephen Marcussen – remastering * Sonny Mediana – graphic design * Andy Baltimore – creative director * Dan Serrano – graphic design * Andy Ruggirello – graphic design * Darryl Pitt – photography * Susan Garson – project coordinator * Richard Veloso – art producer

Chart performance

References

External links

Chick Corea - ''Three Quartets'' (1981) album review by Scott Yanow, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Chick Corea - ''Three Quartets'' (1981) album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Chick Corea - ''Three Quartets'' (1981, Remastered 1992 with Bonus Tracks) album to be listened
as stream on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

{{Authority control 1981 albums Chick Corea albums Stretch Records albums