Throughout the 1970’s Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock were two of the leading figures in jazz fusion, Corea with the bombastic Return to Forever and Hancock with his funky Headhunters group. Each had a critical part in Miles Davis groups of the 1960’s and early 1970’s, which Hancock a pivotal member of the ‘second great quintet’ and Corea joining on electric piano and leading into the epic Bitches Brew. Both played on the transition records ‘Filles de Kilimanjaro’ and ‘In A Silent Way’, with Corea staying with Davis through On the Corner in 1972.
However, in 1978 the two fusion masters who were at the vanguard of the loud, stadium-filling period of fusion and had attained near rock-star status did something very unexpected – they went on tour with two grand pianos and nothing else. They set up the pianos side by side so the two men were facing each other, and they played gorgeous music together. They played duets, solo pieces, and improvisations. The image at top is from the back of the two-record set released from the tour, which I have had for more than 30 years now.
Here is a video of Corea & Hancock doing a fun improvisation.
You can still get Corea/Hancock at Amazon, for $9.49 for the MP3 album!