CHICK COREA THE CONTINENTS

CONCERTO FOR JAZZ QUINTET & CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

THE CONTINENTS
Quintet
Piano Chick Corea
Soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, flute Tim Garland
Bass Hans Glawischnig
Drums Marcus Gilmore
Trombone Steve Davis
Violin I Flute
Ilmar Gavilan Valerie Coleman
Katie Hyun Oboe
Jesse Mills  I: Toyin Spellman-Diaz
Arnaud Sussmann  II: Jacqueline Leclair
Tai Murray
Clarinet
Violin II I: Richard Stoltzman
Melissa White II: Mariam Adam
David Bowlin
Doori Na Bassoon
Ariana Kim Monica Ellis

Viola  Horn
Juan Miguel Hernandez I: Jeff Scott
II: David Byrd-Marrow
Cyrus Beroukhim
David Fulmer Trumpet
Louis Hanzlik
Cello
Paul Wiancko Conductor
Fred Sherry Steven Mercurio
Michael Nicolas
Bass
Gregg August
David Grossman

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 DISC ONE
The Continents
Concerto for Jazz Quintet & Chamber Orchestra
Composed by Chick Corea (Crystal Silence Music/BMI)

01 Africa (08:22)
02 Europe (20:28)
03 Australia (06:26)
04 America (12:32)
05 Asia (11:09)
06 Antarctica (12:45)

DISC TWO
Songs 3, 5-15 composed by Chick Corea (Crystal Silence Music/BMI)

01 Lotus Blossom (Kenny Dorham: Second Floor Music/BMI) (14:30)

02 Blue Bossa  (Kenny Dorham: Second Floor Music/BMI) (06:19)
03 What’s This?   (05:15)
04 Just Friends  (John Klenner: EMI Music Publishing, Inc./ASCAP) (09:15)
05 Solo Continuum 31 (01:05)
06 Solo Continuum 42 (02:05)
07 Solo Continuum 53 (01:15)
08 Solo Continuum 64 (02:44)
09 Solo Continuum 75 (07:24)
10 Solo Continuum 86 (02:52)
11 Solo Continuum 97 (01:27)
12 Solo Continuum 108 (02:56)
13 Solo Continuum 119 (03:10)
14 Solo Continuum 1310 (03:46)
15 Solo Continuum 1411 (03:28)

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DISC ONE
Produced by Chick Corea and Steven Epstein
Recorded by Bernie Kirsh
Edited and Mixed by Todd Whitelock
Recorded at Manhattan Center Studios, NYC
Pro Tools Op: Halsey Quemere
1st Assistant: Sheldon Yellowhair
Assistant: Maki Suzuki
Chief Technical Engineer: Darren Moore
Chief Technical Advisor: Joel Scheuneman
Post Production at MSR Studios, NYC
Assistant Mix Engineer: Brett Mayer
DISC TWO
Produced by Chick Corea
Recorded and Mixed by Bernie Kirsh
Recorded at Manhattan Center Studios, NYC
Pro Tools Op: Halsey Quemere
1st Assistant: Sheldon Yellowhair
Assistant: Maki Suzuki
Chief Technical Engineer: Darren Moore
Chief Technical Advisor: Joel Scheuneman
Post Production at MSR Studios, NYC
Assistant Mix Engineer: Brett Mayer
Mixed in Studio C at Sear Sound
Assistant Engineer: Ted Tuthill
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, NYC
 2012 Chick Corea Productions
 2012 Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft mbH, Berlin
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Executive Producers: Chick Corea and Bill Rooney
Yamaha CFIIIS Concert Grand supplied by Yamaha Musical Products
Piano Tuner: Kaz Tsujio
Concertmaster: Fred Sherry
Production Coordination: Evelyn Brechtlein
Assistant to Chick Corea: Andrew Elliott
Art Direction & Design: Marc Bessant
Cover Sculpture: “Roll” (piano strings, vinyl & metal) by Stefan Fransson (www.artists.de)
Photography: John Rogers
Art Coordination: Julie Rooney
Liner Note Coordination: Dan Muse
Manager: Bill Rooney, billrooney@chickcorea.com
As it took this great team to make it happen, my heartfelt thanks go to:
Bill Rooney for helping me realize this concerto by managing my ideas through to realities.
Tim Garland, Marcus Gilmore, Hans Glawischnig and Steve Davis for their friendship
and brilliant performances.
Fred Sherry for helping me assemble the perfect set of musicians for this project.
And to Steve Mercurio for his warmth and care in helping me bring the details of my score into focus.
The Harlem Quartet and Imani Winds for bringing their uplifting spirit to this music.
And to Richard Stoltzman for his encouragement and transcendent clarinet sound.
All the musicians of the orchestra for their high-spirited performances.
Steve Epstein for his expert handling of the complexities of the sonic environment – and the
recording and editing aspects of this project.
Bernie Kirsh for his friendship and artistic recording – and Todd Whitelock for his masterful
editing and mixing.
My personal thanks to my wife Gayle Moran Corea for her love and support.
And to L. Ron Hubbard for being a continual source of inspiration.
Chick Corea
 THE CONTINENTS
Concerto for Jazz Quintet and Chamber Orchestra
Making music for a combination of orchestral musicians and jazz musicians has endless
possibilities. Appreciation for the abilities each has for the other makes for an atmosphere
charged with high interest, creative communication and new ideas. This was the setting for
the composing and recording of The Continents – for me, a dream come true.
The process of making the recording was magical. The morale of the musicians plus the
recording team was so high that we finished recording the six movements of the concerto
a day and a half under schedule. After saying goodbyes to the orchestra musicians, the
Quintet had an impromptu jam just for fun. Of course, the recorder was on. I then had
the next evening to record some piano solo bits that I thought would fit the cadenza
sections of the concerto. After recording those, I felt there was still something incomplete
about The Continents recording. So I decided to try to get to what it was by improvising
on the piano by myself – I felt that the basic material was somehow lacking – something
was missing.
That last evening, while I was waiting for Bernie to set things up and turn on the recorder,
I played the piano, starting my exploration to find what was missing. As you will hear, after
playing several little pieces, I asked Bernie if he was ready to record – to which Bernie
answered that he had been recording all the time but didn’t want to interrupt me. So we
continued recording from there until I felt I was finished.
After listening to the Quintet’s jam and the piano soliloquies, I now feel that the recording
of The Continents is complete (at least for the moment). The music may have its technical
flaws, as perfection was never the goal – but I’m pleased that the music was made in the
Spirit Of Play, which was the initial intent of the composition after being invited to write
a “piano concerto in the spirit of Mozart” by the Wiener Mozartjahr.

Chick Corea

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