Chick Corea & Gary Burton Perform NPR ‘Tiny Desk Concert’

Renowned jazz performers – pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton – have been recording and performing together for over 40 years and will soon team up as part of Corea’s epic 75th birthday residency at the Blue Note. The pair of NEA Jazz Masters fellowship recipients recently met up at NPR Music’s Bob Boilen’s office desk for a performance for the Tiny Desk Concert video series.

The tight quarters of Boilen’s typically intimate work space proved to be an especial challenge given the size of Corea’s grand piano and Burton’s vibraphones. Here are details of what it took to prepare the “stage” for the virtuosic duo:

There were logistical hurdles to overcome before the jazz giants’ arrival. We had to move the desk to make a bigger “stage.” Piano movers hauled the 900-pound Yamaha C7 grand piano from our first-floor performance studio up the freight elevator to the fourth-floor Tiny Desk area. But weeks of meticulous measuring and planning paid off when the rented vibes were delivered and just fit alongside the piano.

Burton and Corea were in Washington D.C. for the 2016 NEA Jazz Masters Concert which this year was honoring Burton and in 2006 honored Corea. The two jazz greats first teamed up for the 1973 album Crystal Silence and in 2012 also issued the joint-LP Hot House.

Below watch them perform Corea’s “Love Castle” followed by the Crystal Silence title track: