Pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton became a collaborative team almost by accident. Their first musical encounter took place at a jazz festival in Germany in 1972, when they performed together in a spur-of-the-moment encore. The results were so satisfying not only to the audience but to the artists themselves that the two musicians reconvened in a recording studio a couple months later to record the intricate yet highly melodic Crystal Silence, their first of several collaborative studio projects.

The impromptu encounter in Germany marked the beginning of a musical partnership that has lasted for four decades not only on the performance stage but also over the course of seven recordings. Despite the years that have come and gone since that fateful European gig, the duo of Corea and Burton have not lost their ability to generate their unique brand of what could best be described as cool heat. This highly creative and prolific team celebrates forty years of great jazz with the release of Hot House.