Chick Corea wrote The Visitors specifically for Gary Burton and Kirill Gerstein – two masters of their instruments and in their respective fields. The 12-minute piece blends classical and jazz languages seamlessly: some sections are fully written-out, others partially improvised, and others again entirely open to the interpreters’ in-the-moment inspiration. Vibraphone and piano conspire in graceful interplay throughout, navigating rowdy ostinatos and subtle counterpoint in the process. Commissioned by Kirill Gerstein with support from his Gilmore Artist Award, and co-commissioned by Berklee College of Music, The Visitors was premiered by Burton and Gerstein at the 2012 Gilmore International Piano Festival. Gerstein and Burton only recently rediscovered this recording of that premiere, subsequent to which Manfred Eicher and Gerstein mixed the piece in Munich, in Spring 2025. Released as a digital single only, The Visitors appears on the occasion of what would have been Chick Corea’s 84th birthday, on June 12. Kirill Gerstein: “With Chick no longer with us, and Gary now retired, this is a singular document—both musically and personally meaningful.”

‘Composing this duet piece for Kirill and Gary was a happy challenge. To have a pianist of Kirill’s accomplishment play my written piano notes inspired me to compose. I thank him for the opportunity. The Visitors is constructed in small sections with a final section that vamps, jazz-style, over a piano ostinato. I wrote it so that there would always be a choice of whether to play the written notes exactly as written or play variations of the phrasings. I conjured encounters with unfamiliar phenomena and wrote a kind of “soundtrack” to that idea. Of course, one could also think of it as their “next door neighbors”. These concepts are always open for wide interpretation. Here’s to freedom in music.
Chick Corea – March, 2012’

The piece was commissioned for Kirill Gerstein (2010 Gilmore Artist) by the Gilmore Piano Festival. Co-commissioned by Berklee College of Music, The Fine Family Foundation, Karlsons & Associates, LLC, Tom and Donna Lambert, and Peter and Libby Seaver in memory of Patricia Holmes Clark.