Legendary Pianist Explores the Lineage of Great Composers from Mozart and Monk to Jobim and Stevie Wonder On Spirited New Triple Vinyl Album!

"Solo piano is lonely," says Chick Corea, though the legendary pianist is in good company throughout the solo performances captured on this captivating new double album. On Plays, Corea engages with several of his favorite composers, representing a wide swath of musical history – as well as with enthusiastic audiences in concert halls across Europe and the U.S., who become integral collaborators in these spirited renditions. While Corea's solo explorations are as exploratory and inventive as ever, the tone on Plays is decidedly communal. That comes from the jazz great's warm and witty dialogues with his audience, but also from the way he makes connections with the iconic composers whose work he celebrates. He also places these composers in conversation with one another, pairing favorite pieces in such a way that surprising commonalities are revealed that bridge styles, genres and eras from Mozart to the moment at hand.

"I'm part of a lineage," Corea explains. "The thing that I do is similar to what Monk did, to what Bill Evans and Duke Ellington did, and moving back into another era of music, what Bach and Mozart and Beethoven did. These were all pianists who were composers at heart, who gathered their own musicians together to play. I feel so proud to be a part of that tradition." The composers featured on Plays represent the wide spectrum of Corea's keyboard influences. He delves far back into the classical repertoire for pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Domenico Scarlatti, Alexander Scriabin and Frédéric Chopin that alone represent 300 years of musical history. His formative jazz influences include Bill Evans and, of course, Thelonious Monk, with the bossa nova beauty of Antônio Carlos Jobim adding the always-important Latin tinges that have long accented Corea's music. The Great American Songbook offers the Gershwins and Jerome Kern, while Stevie Wonder appears to hint at a more modern pop sensibility.

As familiar as many of these compositions are – Corea includes well-traveled classics from "Desafinado" to "Yesterdays" to "Trinkle Tinkle" and "Pastime Paradise" – stunning new discoveries are sparked by Corea's unexpected pairings. Like a fine wine matched with a complementary gourmet meal, subtle nuances emerge when a Mozart sonata is set alongside a Gershwin standard, or Bill Evans' wistful "Waltz for Debby" meets a timeless Jobim melody. One last composer who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as these giants is Chick Corea himself. He reprises his piece "The Yellow Nimbus," in tribute to his close friend and collaborator, the late flamenco guitar virtuoso Paco de Lucía; the two originally recorded the tune as a duet on Corea's 1982 album Touchstone.

The set closes with eight selections from Corea's book of "Children's Songs" Corea first recorded the full 20-piece collection for ECM in 1984. These miniatures were written in the spirit of freedom and creativity inherent in the imagination of a young child – another way by which the sense of "play" enriches Corea's music. "Children are free-spirited and joyful," the composer says. "They're still finding out about life, so they're wide open and very communicative with their surroundings and other people. I tried to capture that sensation with the Children's Songs."