My Spanish Heart

Summary

My Spanish Heart is a studio album by Chick Corea, recorded and released in 1976. Prominent guest musicians include Corea’s Return to Forever bandmate Stanley Clarke on basses, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, drummers Steve Gadd and Narada Michael Walden and Corea’s wife Gayle Moran on vocals.

My Spanish Heart
Studio album by
Released1976
RecordedOctober 1976
StudioKendun Recorders Burbank, California
GenreJazz
Length73:03 (original album) / 77:36 (2000 expanded and remastered edition)
LabelPolydor
Verve (reissue)
ProducerChick Corea
Chick Corea chronology
Romantic Warrior
(1976)
My Spanish Heart
(1976)
Musicmagic
(1977)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]
The Village VoiceB+[4]

The album combines jazz fusion pieces and more traditional Latin music pieces. The album includes use of full brass and string sections on some tracks. "El Bozo" suite relies heavily on the use of synthesizers while "Spanish Fantasy" suite is mostly acoustic. The first four tracks form a suite as well. “Armando’s Rhumba” is now widely considered a jazz standard.

Critical reception edit

My Spanish Heart received a five-star review from DownBeat magazine.[5]

Track listing edit

All tracks composed by Chick Corea (except "The Hilltop" w/ Stanley Clarke)

Side one edit

  1. "Love Castle" – 4:45
  2. "The Gardens" – 3:12
  3. "Day Danse" – 4:27
  4. "My Spanish Heart" – 1:37
  5. "Night Streets" – 6:08

Side two edit

  1. "The Hilltop" – 6:16
  2. "The Sky (Children Song No. 8 / Portrait of Children Song No. 8)" – 4:57
  3. "Wind Danse" – 5:00

Side three edit

  1. "Armando's Rhumba" – 5:19
  • El Bozo – 12:02
  1. "Prelude to El Bozo" – 1:34
  2. "El Bozo, Part 1 – 2:52
  3. "El Bozo, Part 2" – 2:03
  4. "El Bozo, Part 3" – 5:03

Side four edit

  • Spanish Fantasy – 20:42
  1. "Spanish Fantasy, Part 1" – 6:06
  2. "Spanish Fantasy, Part 2" – 5:14
  3. "Spanish Fantasy, Part 3" – 3:06
  4. "Spanish Fantasy, Part 4" – 5:16

Bonus track edit

  1. "The Clouds" – 4:33

Note: "The Sky" was omitted from CD editions released during the 1980s and '90s, as the entire double-LP-length album wouldn't fit onto a single disk at that time. This track has been included in more recent CD editions (the absolute length of audio CDs has increased over the years due to more efficient designing systems), along with the previously unreleased track "The Clouds". Due to consolidation in the record industry over the later part of the 20th century, recent issues of the album are now on the jazz label Verve Records.

Personnel edit

Charts edit

Chart (1977) Peak
position
Billboard Top Jazz Albums 2 [6]
Billboard Top Pop Albums 55 [6]

References edit

  1. ^ Jurek, Thom (2011). "Chick Corea - My Spanish Heart (1976) album review | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  2. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 305. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 50. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ Christgau, Robert (June 27, 1977). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  5. ^ Herzig, Monika (2017). Experiencing Chick Corea: A Listener's Companion. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 47.
  6. ^ a b "Chick Corea - My Spanish Heart (1976) | Awards | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 27 October 2013.

External links edit

  • Chick Corea - My Spanish Heart (1976) album review by Thom Jurek, credits & releases at AllMusic
  • Chick Corea - My Spanish Heart (1976) album releases & credits at Discogs
  • Chick Corea - My Spanish Heart (1976, Remastered 2000 with Bonus Track) album to be listened as stream on Spotify