ALL IN THE FAMILY: CHICK COREA PRESENTS "VIGILETTE"

September 21, 2018 | by Rusty Aceves

(L-R) Carlitos Del Puerto, Chick Corea, Marcus Gilmore

Chick Corea brings his new Vigilette trio to SFJAZZ for four nights, 10/4-7. Here’s a look at this new band, and the history of Corea’s love for the piano trio format.

Over five-decade career full of highlights, Chick Corea has made some of his most enduring music in the classic piano trio setting, often defining the decades themselves with new lineups performing new material written expressly for those bands as well as fresh re-examinations of gems from his peerless songbook. Indeed, the 22-time GRAMMY winner and 2006 NEA Jazz Master has recorded and performed in every conceivable setting from solo to orchestra, but the time-worn trio concept clearly contains enough magic for the pianist and composer to consistently return, instilling the format with a renewed and inspired energy.
Starting with the landmark 1966 Blue Note release Now He Sings, Now He Sobs with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes, Corea’s trio explorations have run the stylistic gamut, from the avant-garde A.R.C. trio of the early 70s with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul, to the post-fusion return to acoustic jazz with the Akoustic Band of the late 80s with John Patitucci and Dave Weckl, to the globally-influenced, post-modern bop of the New Trio with Avishai Cohen and Jeff Ballard at the turn of the century.

In the last five years Corea has introduced two vastly different working ensembles that express breadth of his genius at the highest level – the GRAMMY-winning Chick Corea Trio with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade, and the electric quintet The Vigil, a group that references the plugged-in jazz/funk of Corea’s fusion heyday in Return to Forever and places him in the company of a younger generation of masterful instrumentalists including drumming sensation Marcus Gilmore – grandson of legendary Now He Sings, Now He Sobs drummer Roy Haynes.

And as Corea’s late 90s Origin sextet was condensed to the aforementioned New Trio for an album and series of performances, the pianist has created a staggering new three-piece culled from the rhythm section of The Vigil and named, appropriately, Vigilette, featuring Gilmore and Cuban bass virtuoso Carlitos Del Puerto.

The son of renowned bassist and founding Irakere member Carlos Del Puerto, Carlitos rose up from prodigious beginnings at Havana’s National School of Music and Arts to recognition as Best New Jazz Artist at the city’s International Jazz Festival at age 17. Since arriving in the U.S., Del Puerto has been an active bandleader and worked with a diverse range of major artists including Bruce Springsteen, Josh Groban, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, ¡Cubanismo!, and SFJAZZ Director of Education Rebeca Mauleón.

An heir to jazz royalty as the grandson of iconic drummer Roy Haynes and a dynamic musician known widely for his work with Vijay Iyer, Nicholas Payton, Steve Coleman, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Ravi Coltrane, Marcus Gilmore has become the most in-demand rhythm master in jazz. He was an intrinsic part of SFJAZZ’s 50th Anniversary celebration of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, and regularly performs in duet with MC, keyboardist, and producer Taylor McFerrin. Gilmore’s electro-acoustic project, Silouhwav, focuses on the intersection of jazz and hip-hop.

Just over 50 years since the pianist made history with Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, Vigilette with Del Puerto and Gilmore brings Corea full-circle — keeping it in the family while expanding his incomparable legacy.