# Reunited & Reconsidered: the Chick Corea Akoustic Band deepens a legacy with Live: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2021/10/16/reunited-reconsidered-the-chick-corea-akoustic-band-deepens-a-legacy-with-live-video-photos/
- Published: 2021-10-16T00:13:15+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The first posthumous album by Chick Corea — _[Live](https://found.ee/ChickCorea_AkousticBandLive),_
a 2018 concert recording with John Patitucci and Dave Weckl — provides a fresh opportunity
to reconsider the precision and cohesion forged by the group he called the Akoustic
Band.**

From the late 1980s into the ‘90s, this ensemble enjoyed a popular success that 
largely stood in contrast to its critical reception. With Corea on piano, Patitucci
on bass and Weckl on drums, the trio tackled both original tunes and jazz standards
with the same intricate intensity that they’d brought to their work in a fusion 
context, as part of the Elektric Band.

For some listeners, accustomed to a more breathy and balanced approach to the piano
trio, it was something short of a winning formula. No less venerable a jazz critic
than Leonard Feather, reviewing the album _Alive _in 1991, sniffed that “less theatricality
and more pianistic virtuosity” would have elevated the music. But our own Nate Chinen
caught the Akoustic Band on that tour, finding its blazing approach to be the perfect
segue from hard rock to balladry and bop. (Nate saw the trio again in reunited form,
at the 2018 Detroit Jazz Festival, and marveled at how much its rapport had deepened.)

![Chick Corea Akoustic Band](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a44b26e/
2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x4004+0+0/resize/880x587!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%
2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc9%2Fa4%2Fb28ccb0f44edb46c5e6763d50b44%2Fcc-
7-photocredit-toshi-sakurai-courtesy-chickcoreaprod.jpg)

Toshi Sakurai

The Chick Corea Akoustic Band at SPC Music Hall in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Jan.
13, 2018.

So in this episode of Jazz United, Nate and Greg talk about their initial impressions
of the Akoustic Band, how those feelings evolved over time, and what it means to
experience the group anew all these years later. We’ll also hear part of a conversation
between Nate and John Patitucci, who pulls the curtain back a bit, remembering Corea’s
generosity as a mentor.

And we’ll get into what makes _Live _a triumph — not only as a poignant reminder
of what we lost when Corea passed this year, but also as a valuable addition to 
his trio discography. Decades older now, Corea, Patitucci and Weckl reveal a new
approach to timbre, space, and language, even as they rekindle a musical camaraderie
whose core remained unchanged for 30 years.

**[https://www.wbgo.org/](https://www.wbgo.org/)**

![Chick Corea Akoustic Band](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/51079f9/
2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x4004+0+0/resize/880x587!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%
2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F87%2F14%2Fa08c31c9448f9f21787ff817aa20%2Fcc-
9-photocredit-toshi-sakurai-courtesy-chickcoreaprod.jpg)

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