Chick COREA 2006

Inspiration

After the fulfilling experience of writing and recording my last CD, To The Stars, inspired by a classic science fiction novel from my favorite author, L. Ron Hubbard, I began looking for another one of his stories-one that I could portray using my love for Spanish and African music and the talents of the musicians in my new band, TOUCHSTONE. Browsing through my collection, I was drawn to the title The Ultimate Adventure. Remembering that this unique fantasy story had a backdrop of scenes and characters from the ancient tales. The Arabian Nights, it immediately had me conjuring emotions, sounds, rhythms and music. Technically, I decided that my palette would be lots of rhythm, flute and, of course, keyboards. I also took this project as an opportunity to make music with some of my old friends who were so important to my music-making in the 60s and 70s-namely, Steve Gadd, Airto Moreira and Hubert Laws. And together with my more recent musical partnerships with Vinnie Colaiuta, Hossam Rarazy, Frank Gambale and Tim Garland, and finally the members of my current band, Tom Brechtlein, Jorge Pardo, Rubem Dantas and Carles Benavent-I was definitely inspired by these great artists in the creation of this music.

Tone Poem

As defined in my computer's dictionary: a "tone poem" is "an extended piece of music that is based on a literary, artistic or ideological theme, for example, a folk tale or landscape". This has become my favorite form of musical expression. As were The Leprechaun, The Mad Hatter, My Spanish Heart, Muskmagic, Secret Agent, The Romantic Warrior, Time Warp, To The Stars and many other albums I've made. The Ultimate Adventure is a tone poem based on the characters, places and events in the story.

Three Ghouls

Their names are Denep, Toreel and Blofel. "Ghouls beat the country to lie in wait along roads, to frighten old dames, to terrify children, to howl in the wind, to whine at doors, to bark in the night, to haunt ruins, to cast spells, to grin in the shadows, to visit tombs, to sniff at the dead, to commit a thousand assaults and provoke a thousand calamities. And ghouls changed their shape and are human heads besides".

Part 1 is their wildness; Part 2 their deviousness: Part 3 their head-hunting.

City Of Brass

"Witb a shudder. Sfevie saw that the page was part of that imaginative tale, The City Of Brass. He knew it well-all too well-and. more than once he had wondered if such a city had ever existed or did exist. The story was hardly a story at all, being only an account of tin expedition sent out by a king, and the discovery of a city, entirely of brass, heaped with wealth, hut where all the inhabitants lay strewn about in attitudes of death".
Queen Tedmur

"She was a child, having a slim and gracious body, the very model of what a young girl should be, not only for her exquisite face, not only for her beauty and her air of breeding, but also for the perfection of her waist and carriage. Her brow was as white as the first ray fallen from the new moon, her eyes were the eyes of a gazelle, and her brows above them were as the crescent moons of Ramadan. Her cheeks were anemones, her mouth the scarlet seal of Sulayman, her face pale asthefull moon when she first rises above the grasses. As for her young, pliant body, it lay beneath her robe like some precious love letter in a siTken case".
El Stephen

"He bad entered a story and the story was writing itself on and on and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. lie realized fully that the story had been tampered with and that he was the author of its strange continuance. But to author Graco! He shuddered. The man had no mercy in his unclean soul. If Tedmur had remained queen, none of this would have happened. But Tedmur was not queen".
Stevie Jebson-later El Stephen, is the main character who takes us through the story. He starts off as a thin, timid boy but eventually discovers-out of necessity-a part of himself that is strong, valiant and courageous.
King & Queen

The song is a processional in the spirit of a Flamenco party. The last page of the book depicts El Stephen and Queen Tedmur in love and now reigning over the City of Brass to the happiness of all.

"You are happy, my master ?" she said, eyes adoringly upon him. "I am bappy. my queen", said El Stepben. "I am content".

Moseb The Executioner

The executioner Moseb, gave a grunt which passed for an order. A hot iron was handed to him and he advanced upon the stake nearest him which was on the other end of the line from Stevie. The victim, a ragged, diseased fellow, screamed. Stevie could not see what was happening but wind wafted to him the acrid odor of seared flesh. The felt sick and there was no strength in him Fiercely he told himself that he would have to remain cool. But he doubted that he could".

North Africa

The flavor and atmosphere of this music reaches from the south of Spain, through North Africa and back to the folklore of Arabian culture.

Flight From Karoof

Karoof is the huge, ugly evil Jinn who cast the spell-later broken by El Stephen-on the City of Brass. And when Karoof imprisons Queen Tedmur in the dungeons of his castle, it is El Stephen who rescues her. But as they flee together on horseback, they are soon pursued across the desert by a vengeful Karoof-in the form of a big black cloud of smoke.

Planes Of Existence

A depiction of Stevie Jebson's "voyage" into the City of Brass.

" .. We are attempting interplane coexistence; that is to say. transit between degrees of existence ... and any one of the countless others which coexist with us, perhaps static hut more likfly similar to our own. That there are such planes there can be no doubt".

Arabian Nights

A tone poem of the book and the time.

Gods & Devils

From the book: Shakar, a young nobleman sharing a prison cell with El Stephen, is amazed to hear he has seen Queen Tedmur.

"You were in her chamber ? By the gods and devils, my friend, you must be a magician. But you seem to be human. No forgive me. Of course you are human. But I do not understand how you could have seen her".

Chick COREA

The Ultimate Adventure

(2006)