Chick Corea & The Spanish Heart Band - Antidote (2019) LP

The material on Antidote includes work from the pianist's back catalog, a classical piece, and new compositions. The opening title was penned for Blades, who delivers it with class, conviction, and elegance. It's a meld of salsa and flamenco with Corea's piano, brass, and spiky percussion leading the singer. Josele nails a tight, fluid solo, followed by synth and then sharp, polyrhythmic piano montunos underscored by a smoking trombone break. The revisioned "Duende" (originally from Touchstone) is languid, ushered in by dark minor chords and shakers and spiraling along a newly harmonized melody line. Another Touchstone number, "The Yellow Nimbus," is in two parts with shining interplay between the pianist, percussionist, and guitarist before Pardo's moaning flute solo transports the listener to another time and place. Blades appears again on a reworked "My Spanish Heart," with Corea on acoustic and electric keyboards, percussion, a driving bassline, and a trap kit. "Armando's Rumba," also from My Spanish Heart, is recontextualized with a post-bop horn chart in a piano-driven fusion of salsa and flamenco, kissed by emotive trumpet and guitar breaks. The other covers include De Lucia's "Zyryab," with glorious flute and piano interplay. Igor Stravinsky's "Pas De Deux" features an excavated harmony that joins it to the album's material. Closer "Admiration" was written for this band; it's performed with a lithe Latin jazz groove and highlights Pardo's flute, Quintero's syncopated palmas (handclaps), Josele's sweeping guitar, and guest flamenco dancer Nino de los Reyes. Corea has been on a near-prolific roll over the past decade, but Antidote, his 99th album, stands with the finest recordings in his entire career.