This 2010
ECM collection
Solo Piano Improvisations/Children's Songs brings together three of pianist
Chick Corea's '70s solo piano recordings. Included are 1971's
Piano Improvisations, Vol. 1, 1972's
Piano Improvisations, Vol. 2, and 1984's
Children's Songs. These reflective, atmospheric, but quite technically agile recordings found
Corea exploring and discovering new ways of expressing himself alone at the piano. In that sense,
Corea was bucking the electric fusion and avant-garde "free" jazz of the time with these ruminative acoustic sets that influenced much of what was to become the defining sound of
ECM. This is a typically well-crafted set from
ECM and features new liner notes and period black-and-white photographs of
Corea. ~ Matt Collar