''Tones for Joan's Bones'' is the first solo album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

jazz

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Chick Corea, recorded in 1966 but not released until 1968 on

Vortex Records Vortex Records was a jazz subsidiary of Atlantic Records that released 14 albums between 1968 and 1970, including the debut albums by Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, and Sonny Sharrock Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock (August 27, 1940 – May 25, ...

, a subsidiary of

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. It features Corea with tenor saxophonist

Joe Farrell Joseph Carl Firrantello (December 16, 1937 – January 10, 1986), known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name o ...

, trumpeter

Woody Shaw Woody Herman Shaw Jr. (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, arranger, band leader, and educator. Shaw is widely known as one of the most important and influential jazz trumpet ...

, bassist

Steve Swallow Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar. ...

and drummer

Joe Chambers Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

. Corea had previously recorded with

Mongo Santamaria Mongo may refer to: Geography Africa * Mongo, Chad, a Sahel city * Apostolic Vicariate of Mongo (Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction) * Mongo, Sierra Leone, a chiefdom * Mongo River (Little Scarces River), Guinea and Sierra Leone, a tributa ...

, Sonny Stitt,

Dave Pike David Samuel Pike (March 23, 1938 – October 3, 2015) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. He appeared on many albums by Nick Brignola, Paul Bley and Kenny Clarke, Bill Evans, and Herbie Mann. He also recorded extensively as le ...

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm- ...

Blue Mitchell Richard Allen "Blue" Mitchell (March 13, 1930 – May 21, 1979) was an American trumpeter and composer who worked in jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and funk. He recorded albums as leader and sideman for Riverside, Mainstream Records, and ...

and

Cal Tjader Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, even as he continued to perform music of Afro-Jazz, ...

. This was the first Corea album to feature Joe Farrell, who would go on to record with Corea many times, including in the first and last lineups of

Return to Forever Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhu ...

. Farrell and Woody Shaw had played with Corea in

Willie Bobo William Correa (February 28, 1934 – September 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Willie Bobo,Biography ''AllMusic'' was an American Latin jazz percussionist of Puerto Rican descent. Bobo rejected the stereotypical expectations of Lat ...

's band, and Shaw would record with Corea again on the 1969 album '' Is''. ''Tones for Joan's Bones'' was produced by flautist

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (inclu ...

, with whom Corea had recorded four albums the previous year. "Litha" was later recorded by Stan Getz, appearing on the 1967 album '' Sweet Rain'', with Corea on piano. "Tones for Joan's Bones" and "Straight Up and Down" were both recorded by

for his album ''

Boss Horn ''Boss Horn'' is an album by American trumpeter Blue Mitchell recorded in 1966 and released on the Blue Note label.

'', which features Corea, and which was recorded several weeks before Corea's album. "Straight Up and Down" later appeared as the closing track of ''

Like Minds ''Like Minds'' is a 2006 Australian thriller film written and directed by Gregory J. Read. The film was produced by the South Australian Film Corporation. It debuted in Australia on 9 November 2006. The psychological thriller is the first Aus ...

'' in 1998, which features Corea,

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

Dave Holland David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years. His extensive discography r ...

and

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (born March 13, 1925) is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jaz ...

. In 2011, the

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is an American big band and jazz orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis. The Orchestra is part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a performing arts organization in New York City. History In 1988 the Orchestra was formed a ...

included "Tones for Joan's Bones" in its first Chick Corea retrospective concert. The album has been re-issued on CD paired with the

Miroslav Vitouš Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš (born 6 December 1947) is a Czech jazz bassist. Biography Born in Prague, Vitouš began the violin at age six, switching to piano after about three years, and then to bass at age fourteen. As a young man in Europe, ...

album '' Mountain in the Clouds'' (a.k.a. ''Infinite Search'', a.k.a. ''The Bass'', 1970). The four tracks from ''Tones for Joan's Bones'', along with two previously unreleased tracks from the same session, were released on the 1973 compilation '' Inner Space''.

Reception

In a 1968 review for DownBeat,

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a ...

awarded the album 4.5 stars, and commented: "Here's a real sleeper. Corea and his sidemen are not among the most well-known performers in jazz, but they've cut a splendid record." The authors of

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

awarded the album 4 stars, and stated: "Given that he had already been playing for 20 years, there is no reason to regard ''Tones'' as the work of a prodigy... he felt under no particular pressure to record as a leader, and approached the first session... with a very relaxed attitude. That is evident in every track. The title-piece is a jazz classic and the opening 'Litha' deserves to be better known." Jim Todd, writing for

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 databa ...

, awarded the album 4.5 stars, calling it "a blazing, advanced hard bop set" and stating: "Anybody with an interest in this vital and exciting period will find this session indispensable."

John Fordham John Fordham (died 1425) was Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Ely. Fordham was keeper of the privy seal of Prince Richard from 1376 to 1377 and Dean of Wells before being named Lord Privy Seal in June 1377. He held that office until December 1381 ...

included ''Tones for Joan's Bones'' in his list of Corea's 10 greatest recordings, and commented: "the 25-year-old reflected the soulfully punchy hard bop jazz style that the rock-dominated 60s were already displacing. But since he was partnered here by such savvy experts in the method as trumpeter Woody Shaw, saxophonist Joe Farrell and bassist Steve Swallow, and he was unveiling his signature fusion of direct, songlike lyricism and driving swing with a side order of formal classical elegance, it was a memorable entrance just the same."

Track listing

Personnel

* 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 keybo ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

–

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 ...

, flute *

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

– drums

References

External links

Chick Corea - ''Tones for Joan's Bones'' (rec. 1966, rel. 1968) album review by Jim Todd, credits & releases
at

*
Chick Corea - ''Tones for Joan's Bones'' (rec. 1966, rel. 1968) album to be listened
as stream on

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{{Authority control 1968 debut albums Chick Corea albums Vortex Records albums Atlantic Records albums