Dynamic duo

CD CHOICE: GARY BURTON – CHICK COREA
Crystal Silence: The ECM Recordings 1972-79 ECM****

This four-CD box set, covering the vibes-piano duo recordings of Burton and Corea, is one of the early jewels in ECM's 40-year-old crown. And though the albums ( Crystal Silence, Duet and In Concert, Zürich, October 28, 1979) owe their existence to the intuition of ECM founder and producer Manfred Eicher, both Burton and Corea had considerable doubts about coming together.

Corea's brief stint in Burton's 1968 quartet left them feeling that the two chordal instruments had the potential to get in each other's way. But a sensational closing jam, featuring just the two of them, at the Munich festival in August 1972 suggested that Eicher's intuition was spot on, and Crystal Silence, recorded in one day, confirmed it.

Despite the spacious delicacy of their collaboration, nobody initially expected much of it. But Crystal Silencehad a special chamber- music quality, with a surprisingly strong underlying European classical feel and clear Andalusian elements that were part of Corea's music. It didn't feel quite like a jazz album and it stood out in part because of that. It was also, for all its subtlety, both accessible and melodic, and brought out that latter quality in Burton and Corea.

What gave Crystal Silencelife beyond its time was the brilliance of the improvisers and their knack of reading each other's musical minds, whether dealing with the written music or improvising. The counterpoint was often mesmerising in its intricacy and clarity.

The repertoire throughout the series, apart from Mike Gibbs's Feeling and Thingson the first album, came from Corea and Steve Swallow. It included striking performances, extending over the duo's other ECM albums, made in 1978 and 1979, as well as several of Corea's lovely Children's Songseries of miniatures, reflecting the influence of Bartók.

This budget-price reissue brings the albums together in one set and restores two long unavailable, superb solo vibes and solo piano performances from the Zürich concert. www.naxosdirect.ie