Personnel: Chick Corea (piano); Gary Burton (vibraphone).



Recorded at Arne Bendiksen Studio, Oslo, Norway on November 6, 1972.

This 1973 album of piano and vibraphone duets helped to put ECM Records on the map. Others might trace a line that began here and led to the wallpaper monotony of new age music. But Burton and Corea can't be held responsible for that. CRYSTAL SILENCE is filled with invention, surprise, humor, sadness, and tremendous verve. The interplay is perfect--the two instruments dance around one another and merge into a single voice. It also helps that the material is equal to these two fine players, always spurring them on.

There are five pieces by Corea, three more by bass player Steve Swallow (who worked with Burton through most of the sixties), and one by British composer Michael Gibbs. What is most striking is the manner in which a melody can start on one instrument and then continue on the other. They pass themes and embellishments back and forth with the ease of a weaver. This is an exceptional album of great beauty.