“A VERY SPECIAL CONCERT.” Chick Corea. Sony...

“A VERY SPECIAL CONCERT.” Chick Corea. Sony 96W50074. Taped four years ago at the Country Club in Reseda, this was a reunion with Corea’s old Return to Forever rhythm section and the tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. Corea credits drummer Lenny White for “putting this whole thing together.”

The 56-minute program includes only four numbers, each from 10 1/2 to 13 1/2 minutes long. The breakneck “L’s Bop” will appeal to those who are hooked on watching drum solos. Henderson is all motion and no emotion; Corea delivers some fleet single-note lines, often leaving his left hand idle. “Why Wait?” by the bassist, Stanley Clarke, finds the composer displaying his tremendous chops and Corea at his unpretentious best. Clarke shines again in the Latin tinged “500 Miles High,” but the Hispanic panic is really on in “Guernica,” written by White, with Henderson offering tonal distortions possibly designed to match Picasso’s visual unorthodoxies. 3 stars.