I don’t really know what to say about this concert. The gist of my feelings could be summed up like this:

It was an enjoyable show, but my mind tended to wonder causing the music to become background noise.

Or I could say:

A world-renowned jazz keyboardist played a bunch of songs I don’t know on solo piano.

But that’s way to short for any type of review. I should fill it out with a few details. Maybe something like:

Chick Corea played a solo piano show last Saturday night at the beautiful Shanghai Oriental Art Center. For nearly three hours he dazzled the audience with an excellent performance. He performed before a small, but enthusiastic crowd for nearly three hours over two sets.

But that is still a little short, and none too interesting so I’ll try to punch it up with some background information on my own experience with jazz.

While I might tell the person on the street that I like jazz, and I might add the genre to my Facebook profile, I am by no means an expert on that particular brand of music. I dig the vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday and I own discs by Louis Armstrong and love Kind of Blue by Miles Davis.

Sometimes I even feel adventurous and listen to things like concert bootlegs from John Coltrane or Bitches Brew from Miles. Not often mind you, but enough to pretend I have a little street cred.

I came to the concert knowing the name of Chick Corea and his influential stint with Miles Davis during his electric fusion period, but outside of that I know nothing of his work. That is to say I haven’t the slightest idea what he’s been doing the last 30 odd years.

That’s better, but where is it going?

When I first heard Chick was coming to Shanghai (the day before the show, actually) I was both very excited that such a legend was coming to my neck of the world and a little apprehensive about what he would play. Would my wife be able handle a couple of hours of electrified, amplified noise? Would I?

But I just had to go. Chick is a legend. And I have missed too many legendary concerts — and regretted it — to miss another. Plus it was a chance to make Mark Saleski jealous, and you really shouldn’t pass that up. Ever.

We went not knowing if we’d even be able to even get tickets. Luckily there were plenty left and we grabbed some of the cheap seats, up high and a little behind the main stage. Moments after arriving we were moved out of our seats by the usher, as was everyone in our section. Having no idea what was being said by anybody, or what was going on we just followed.

Turns out there were lots of empty seats everywhere, and the venue decided to let us all sit down on the floor. My $25 cheap seats were now landing me in the seventh row center!

With only a single piano on the stage, my worries about this turning into an enormous wall of fusion were relieved and I settled back into my seat waiting for the man. Without too much waiting Mr. Corea casually walked on stage in loose fitting khakis and untucked, short sleeved button up shirt.

Immediately he put us all at east by whipping out his own digital camera taking pictures of us as we took pictures of him. He then talked to us for a bit and cracked jokes and reminded us that this was music meant to be fun, not some starched shirt affair as the venue might imply.

Ok, that’s pretty good and fleshed out, but where’s the review of the music?

This is where it gets tricky. I don’t really know how to review a collection of songs played on a piano. Chick Corea is a master keyboardist. A legend of the ivories. And rightfully so, as he plays masterfully.

He played selections from his own recordings dating back some thirty years, plus songs from Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington and a host of other classic jazz musicians. In typical jazz fashion he stretched each song out with improvisation, leaving only shreds and pieces of the original melody intact.

As it was a solo piano performance, it tended to sound more like a classical recital than a full-on jazz performance, but he did his best to liven things up. On some of his own songs from the jazz-fusion era he fleshed out the music by stomping his feet on the floor and reaching into the guts of the piano to create a sort-of muted yelp on the strings.

Earlier, when I said that the performance became background music for me, understand that I am not really making a judgment on his performance but my own listening abilities. With no lyrics to sing along with, and only a precursory knowledge of most of the songs played my mind couldn’t help but wander off and think about other things.

It might be a sin to say that, but having a much loved and celebrated musician perform as background music to your own thought isn’t such a bad way to live.

The second set was mostly filled with selections from the extensive collection of children’s songs he has written. They ranged from quick, light-hearted ditties to longer, more complicated (and yet still fun) numbers. To close the show he took a request and satisfied the audience with a killer version of “Spain.”

Hey, that’s not bad at all. It might even qualify as a full review.

It was a good show, too.

Popularity: 20% [?]