A Young Pianist Finding His Voice
Corea stretches out on a trio date that shows him thinking beyond the hard bop playbook.
Inner Space arrived early in Chick Corea's recording career, and it's a straightforward piano trio session that lets you hear exactly what he was after in the early sixties. Working with Repertory Theater drummer Joe Chambers and bassist Reggie Workman, Corea plays through standards and a couple of originals without any of the fusion electricity or electric keyboards he'd become famous for later. This is acoustic, unhurried music where you can hear every note he's choosing.
What makes this album worth hearing is how restless Corea already was. He wasn't content to just run through the chords like a competent young player filling out a session. On tracks like the ballad work, you catch him testing different approaches to phrasing, pushing at the edges of where his fingers wanted to go. Workman and Chambers are sympathetic partners—this isn't a showcase where the other musicians just stay out of the way. There's actual conversation happening, the kind where everybody's listening.
This isn't the place to start if you're coming to Corea for the first time. But if you've heard his later work and want to understand where he came from, what he sounded like before Herbie Hancock and Weather Report and electric pianos, this trio date shows you an ambitious musician still figuring out who he was. It's minor-key stuff compared to what came next, but that's exactly the point—you hear the foundation before the fireworks.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Chick Corea
Crystal Silence 1973
Romantic Warrior 1976
The Chick Corea Acoustic Band 1989
The Chick Corea Elektric Band 1986
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
