Chick Corea - Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
Chick Corea, piano [click here to see more vinyl featuring Chick Corea]
Miroslav Vitous, acoustic bass
Roy Haynes, drums [click here to see more vinyl featuring Roy Haynes]
1 LP, Gatefold jacket
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 33RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : RTI
Label : Blue Note Tone Poet
Original Label : Blue Note
Recorded at A&R Studios, New York City on March 14, 19 and 27, 1968
Engineered by Don Hahn
Produced by Joe Harley
Remastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
Originally released in 1968
Reissued in 2019
Tracks :
Side A
- Steps – What Was
- Matrix
Side B
- Now He Sings – Now He Sobs
- Now He Beats The Drum – Now He Stops
- The Law Of Falling And Catching Up
Awards:
2021 Stereophile Magazine Record to Die For!
Reviews :
“Recorded over a year after Chick Corea's debut Tones for Joan's Bones -- a record cut in late 1966 but not appearing until 1968 -- Now He Sings, Now He Sobs feels like his true first album, the place where he put all the pieces in motion for his long, adventurous career. Much of that has to do with the closed quarters of its recording. Supported by drummer Roy Haynes and bassist Miroslav Vitous, Corea has the freedom to run wild on his five original compositions, letting chords cluster alongside fleet melodic runs. Haynes and Vitous play with the same sense of liberation, which pushes Now He Sings, Now He Sobs into a sweet spot where hard bop and avant intersect. There's an intellectual rigor balanced by an instinctual hunger that makes for music that's lively and challenging while also containing a patina of comfort. Chalk the latter up to the elegance of Corea's piano trio: they move through the dense bop with the same grace that they settle into ballads, a sound that is warm and inviting, yet never disguises how the trio -- and Corea especially -- never stop probing and exploring the outer edges of this music. While it's possible to hear Now He Sings, Now He Sobs as an opening salvo to Corea's career, it also exists as its own special thing because it captures the pianist at the brink: it's kinetic, exciting, and filled with endless possibilities.” AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
"The titles for the Tone Poet series, handpicked by Harley with input from Blue Note president Don Was, cover lesser-known releases from both the classic and modern Blue Note eras as well as labels like Pacific Jazz, World Pacific, and Solid State... Corea's classic Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, with Miroslav Vitous on bass and Roy Haynes on drums, was originally released on Solid State. It presents Corea with one foot in bebop and the other striding forward into 'The New Thing'. 'Now He Beats The Drum, Now He Stops' opens with a solo piano exploration before morphing into the briskly swinging trio section based on the chords to 'How Deep Is The Ocean'. Corea explores freely inside the piano on the avant-garde number, 'The Law Of Falling And Catching Up', while the kinetic 'Steps: What Was' hints at what would later become Corea's most beloved and oft-covered tune, 'Spain'. The leader's boppish 'Matrix', another buner characterized by his Bud Powell-esque right-hand flurries on the keys, would later become a jazz standard." - Bill Milkowski, The Absolute Sound, July/August 2019
“Corea's second album is arguably his finest, a piano trio classic where the three players interact brilliantly. Corea is in superb form, blending bebop and free jazz in his own engaging style on a radiant set of distinctive compositions. The energy and creativity never flag.” Larry Birnbaum, Stereophile Magazine
Ratings:
AllMusic 4.5/5 , Discogs 4.55 / 5