Chick Corea

First of all, the Blue Note in Milan is a hell of a venue: great acoustics, good visibility from every part of the room, plenty of seating... The only downside: the price of tickets and drinks (it's also a restaurant). But it's a venue with something extra, and I hope it soon becomes a real musical landmark.

5.30pm. Nick "The Nightfly", the DJ from Radio Montecarlo, takes the stage to introduce a genuine legend of contemporary jazz: Chick Corea, the man who accompanied the genius of Miles Davis with the notes of his own electric piano...

Corea (sporting his trademark bright yellow Hawaiian shirt) takes the stage backed by four of the finest musicians in the world: John Benitez on double bass, Tim Garland on sax (soprano and tenor), an Egyptian percussionist whose name escapes me (though he's played with Gabriel, Sting and Pino Daniele), and the great, truly great Jeff Ballard on drums.

A quip about the unlikely afternoon setting lets Chick break the ice with the audience, and from his grand piano he strikes up the first notes of "La Novia", written back in the days of his electric ensemble Return To Forever.

Emotional tension fills the room, and the audience, largely made up of very young fans, is left spellbound by the chemistry at the heart of these musicians.

The concert continues with exactly the song I'd been hoping to hear: "Eternal Child", taken from 1988's "Eye Of The Beholder" with the Electric Band. A masterpiece of melody and passion, here reinterpreted acoustically with a ferocious improvised interlude.

Practically a heart-attack moment.

The following songs trace back through the pianist's solo career, and there's no shortage of space given to solos from his brilliant bandmates: pyrotechnic showmanship is also a hallmark of the "new jazz", isn't it?

Corea and his bandmates also indulge in fun little bits that seem entirely improvised, like when they poke fun at the Art Ensemble Of Chicago by coaxing sounds out of various objects like rags, bottles and glasses.

The concert wraps up after about an hour and forty minutes, giving the musicians time to have dinner before returning for the two evening sets, in keeping with the tradition of the best American jazz clubs... A great show that, frankly, I'm glad I didn't pay full price for.

Ride the wave of great music

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