Chick Corea

Tonight you have the rare opportunity to confront, and perhaps overcome, two of your strongest distastes: for concept albums and Scientology. In case you’re unaware, Chick Corea—a piano giant who made some amazing records in the ‘60s and ‘70s and has been on a rather choppy course ever since—is the Tom Cruise of jazz. Unlike Cruise, though (and rather more like Travolta), he has chosen to marry his artistic/professional projects with his spiritual life. His latest disc, The Ultimate Adventure(Concord), is a series of compositions inspired by an L. Ron Hubbard Arabian Nights-style fantasy novel of the same name. It’s an uneven recording for sure, marred by the sort of whimsical flourishes and bell-tree glissandos that say “fantasy novel.” But here’s the thing: Chick’s touring with three of the most important guys from his glory days: percussion tornado Airto, the startling bassist Eddie Gomez (who was also Bill Evans’ final collaborator), and soul jazz survivor Hubert Laws on flute. If they were playing the Little Mermaidsongbook, you would still haveto check it out.
Nov. 27-Dec. 2, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., 2007