1968 · Album
Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
Recorded 1968 · Solid State Records · Produced by Alfred Lion
The Trio That Changed Everything
Three musicians making something so alive and conversational it barely feels like jazz.
This record exists in its own world. Chick Corea made Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (1968) with Miroslav Vitous on bass and Roy Haynes on drums, and what you get is something that sounds less like a formal jazz session and more like three friends having the most intelligent conversation imaginable. There's no piano trio playbook being followed here. Corea isn't trying to impress you with technique, though he's clearly got it. Instead, he's listening—really listening—to what the other two are doing, and they're doing the same back. The interplay is so tight and responsive that it feels almost telepathic.
Track by track, the album moves through moods without ever feeling scattered. Corea's touch on the keys is remarkably gentle throughout, even when he's moving fast. His comping, his soloing, the way he frames space—it all serves the music rather than showing off. Vitous is melodic and inventive without overplaying, and Haynes does what he always does: makes everything swing harder by playing less. "Litha" sits there patient and meditative. "Crystal Silence" actually sounds like its name. When Corea does dig in on the faster pieces, the energy feels earned rather than frantic.
This came early in Corea's recording career, before the electric fusion experiments and all the later work he'd become famous for. In that context, this trio record is essential—it shows what he was actually about before everything got more complicated. It's become one of those records that serious jazz listeners and musicians return to again and again because it proves that you don't need a lot of voices or electronic effects to say something real. If you're going to listen to one Corea piano trio record, this should probably be it.
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
Infinite Search 1970
Miroslav Vitous
plays double bass here
plays double bass here
♫
Hip Ensemble 1971
Roy Haynes
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
