. Chick Corea,Stanley Clarke and Lenny White at the Monterey Jazz Festival .

Cole Thompson

Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

At the 52nd Monterey Jazz Festival, three-quarters of the stellar fusion band Return to Forever shared a single stage.

They are Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White on piano, bass and drums, respectively.

In 1968, Corea (born 1941) recorded the trio classic Now He Sings, Now He Sobs with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes.

It has become a much-taught trio album, and Corea's spinning blues choruses in the opening track, "Matrix," are part of a pivotal moment in jazz piano.

A great career begins here.

Corea and drummer Lenny White (born 1949) both played on the Miles Davis double electric LP Bitches Brew (1970).

Host Dee Dee Bridgewater says that White is one of her favorite drummers ever, while Corea says that when he plays "On Green Dolphin Street," he always thinks of Miles Davis. And Corea's choice of "Waltz for Debby" honors Bill Evans, who worked with Davis a decade prior to Chick Corea.
Just after Bitches Brew, bassist Stanley Clarke (born 1950) moved from Philadelphia to New York, and right away, he too was working with the name players.

Prior to 1976's School Days, it was practically unheard of for a bassist to release an album as a leader, but Clarke's tone and technique — also present in this trio — are not meant for the background.

Now, as then, these players create an irresistible flow.
Then it was electric, but at Monterey on Sept. 20, 2009, it's acoustic and highly charged.




Credits



Recording by Ron Davis, A Wing and A Prayer. Surround Sound re-mix by Duke Markos.

Set List

"Green Dolphin Street" (Kaper, Washington)

"Waltz for Debby" (Bill Evans)

"No Mystery" (Corea)

"Cancion de Sophia" (Clarke)

"Solo Bass Improvisation" (Clarke)

"Five Hundred Miles High" (Corea)

"Bud Powell" (Corea)*

. Bill Callahan : Tiny Desk Concert . Voix et Profondeur .

It's a high compliment to suggest that these three Bill Callahan songs may well implant themselves in your brain, lay eggs and sprout horrifically disturbing dreams at that point when you're banging on the snooze alarm in a state of anguished early-morning half-sleep.

After Callahan — a.k.a. The Artist Formerly Known As Smog — performed at the NPR Music offices, my own slumber was absolutely haunted by at least one line from each piece he played.

From "Jim Cain":

"I used to be darker / Then I got lighter / Then I got dark again."

From "Rococo Zephyr":

 

"I used to be sorta blind / But now I can sorta see."

 

From "Too Many Birds": 

"If you could only stop your heartbeat for one heartbeat..."

All three songs are highlights from Callahan's magnificent new album, Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, and all three are rendered here in faithful detail by Callahan and his crack team of backing players. 

The singer is, for obvious reasons, the driving force in these performances — every sound orbits around his deep, detached voice — but all those strings and guitars exude subtle warmth to match Callahan's sly but sneakily empathetic words.

The result is a Tiny Desk Concert that's more serious than most, and at times almost eerily transfixing. 

Immerse yourself in it, and you may just re-live it in your darkest dreams.

Bill Callahan TINY DESK 

Podcast Download NPR . Bill Callahan : Tiny Desk Concert

Set List

• "Jim Cain"
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• "Rococo Zephyr"
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• "Too Many Birds"
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. Esperanza Spalding Tiny Desk Concert : Bass & Voice .

Esperanza Spalding has phenomenal hair.

If you meet her in her street clothes, you may not notice it; she keeps it tucked inconspicuously away, miraculously to be honest, under a knit cap.

But right before she took the "stage" at NPR Music's Tiny Desk, she doffed her piece to unveil a massive, overflowing 'fro. More than one of us wondered from which secret hiding place it all emanated.

Spalding stows a lot of talent in small packages. She's not a very tall person — diminutive, really — but has made a career of playing the imposing double bass with jazz giants.

She sings, too, with a high-pitched but husky flavor, making it easy to wonder how she generates the lung capacity for her acrobatic, high-wire feats.

For reference, spend time with the middle tune here, the standard "Midnight Sun."

She goes at it solo, just bass and voice, and generates plenty of horsepower.

But it's not sheer musical talent that makes her a winning (and bread-winning) performer — after all, there are plenty of chops to go around in jazz.

Spalding has a certain poise, a way of engaging a crowd, of controlling a room. It's usually seen as a large-scale projection, a friendly demeanor greeting a festival or performing arts center crowd of thousands. In this most awkwardly cramped of stages, her deep conviction was a dominant force.

For her Tiny Desk Concert, she mostly called original tunes from Chamber Music Society, her new album pairing a jazz rhythm section with a three-piece string trio.

The two tunes bookending her set alternated the gossamer with the rich and darkly hued: the album opener "Little Fly," her setting of a William Blake poem, and "Apple Blossom," featuring her regular guitarist, Ricardo Vogt.

Spalding conceived of Chamber Music Society as an intimate experience, a close musical exchange between a small group of friends.

If it was intimacy she wanted, she got her wish: The constraints of Bob Boilen's workspace ensured that all the players were nice and cozy.

We liked what she had in mind.

Set List

"Little Fly"


"Midnight Sun"


"Apple Blossom"

Personnel

Esperanza Spalding (bass and vocals)


Ricardo Vogt (guitar)


Sara Caswell (violin)


Lois Martin (viola)

Jody Redhage (cello)

Podcast Download NPR M4V TINY DESK CONCERT LINK

. Concert Stanley Clarke : North Sea Jazz 2010 .