Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (born June 12, 1941) is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer who is arguably best known for his work during the 1970s in the genre of jazz fusion, although his contributions to straight-ahead jazz have been tremendous. He participated in the birth of the electric fusion movement as a member of Miles Davis's band in the 1960s, and in the 1970s formed Return to Forever. He continued to pursue other collaborations and explore various musical styles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among jazz pianists, Corea is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential since Bill Evans (along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett). He is also known for promoting Scientology.

Life and career

Youth

Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. His father Armando, a jazz trumpet player who had led a Dixieland band in the Boston area in the 1930s and 1940s, introduced Chick to the piano around the age of five. Growing up surrounded by jazz music, he was influenced at an early age by bebop stars such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Horace Silver and Lester Young. At eight Corea also took up drums, which would later give him the ability to handle the piano as a percussion instrument.

Related Topics:
Chelsea, Massachusetts - Trumpet - Dixieland - Boston - 1930s - 1940s - Bebop - Dizzy Gillespie - Charlie Parker - Bud Powell - Horace Silver - Lester Young - Drum

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Schooling proving to be unsuccessful, Corea mostly developed his piano skills by exploring music on his own. A notable influence was concert pianist Salvatore Sullo for whom Corea started taking lectures at age eight, who introduced him to classical music, helping spark his interest in musical composition.

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Given a black tuxedo by his father, he started doing gigs when in high school. He enjoyed listening to Herb Pomeroy's band at the time, and had a trio which would play Horace Silver's music at a local jazz club. He collaborated with Portuguese bandleader and trumpet player Phil Barboza, and with conga drummer Bill Fitch who introduced him to Latin music:

Related Topics:
Tuxedo - Herb Pomeroy - Portuguese - Phil Barboza - Conga - Bill Fitch

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:I liked the "extraversion" of Latin music, especially the dance and salsa style music - bands like Tito Puente's band and Machito's band. The Cuban dance music was a great kind of antidote to some of the more serious, heady jazz that I was into. I liked the "outgoingness" and exuberance of the music. I just stayed interested in all kinds of Latin music. Then I discovered Spanish Latin music, which is flamenco.

Related Topics:
Salsa - Tito Puente - Machito - Cuba - Flamenco

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He eventually decided to move to New York where he took up musical education for one month at Columbia University and six months at The Juilliard School (among his Juilliard teachers was Peter Schickele, who described Chick as "the most awake student ever taught"). He quit after finding both disappointing, but liked the atmosphere of New York whose musical scene became the starting point for his professional career.

Related Topics:
New York - Columbia University - The Juilliard School - Peter Schickele

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Early career

Corea started his professional career in the '60s playing with trumpeter Blue Mitchell and Latin greats such as Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaria. One of the earliest recordings of his playing is with Blue Mitchell's quintet on The Thing To Do. This album features his composition "Chick's Tune", a clever retooling of "You Stepped Out of a Dream" that demonstrates the angular melodies and Latin-and-swing rhythms that characterize, in part, Corea's personal style. (Incidentally, the same tune features a hellacious drum solo by a very young Al Foster.)

Related Topics:
'60s - Trumpeter - Blue Mitchell - Latin - Willie Bobo - Mongo Santamaria - Al Foster

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His first album as a leader was Tones For Joan's Bones in 1966, two years before the release of his legendary album Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, with Roy Haynes on drums, and Miroslav Vitou? on bass.

Related Topics:
1966 - Now He Sings, Now He Sobs - Roy Haynes - Drums - Miroslav Vitou? - Bass

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Another early sideman appearance is with Stan Getz on 1967's Sweet Rain.

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Jazz fusion

In September 1968, he joined Miles Davis's band and appeared on important albums such as Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. With this band, he experimented using electric instruments, mainly the Fender Rhodes electric piano. In concert, Davis's rhythm section of Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette played in a novel style that combined elements of free improvisation and rock music. Expressing a desire to play more freely just as Davis's music became increasingly funk-based, Holland and Corea left to form their own group.

Related Topics:
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way - Bitches Brew - Fender Rhodes - Dave Holland - Jack DeJohnette

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In the early '70s, Corea took on different projects as a bandleader. In the period 1970-71, he was active in the band Circle, an avant-jazz group featuring Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul. Dissatisfied by the abstraction of free improvisation and expressing a desire to reach out to a wider audience, Corea struck out on his own. In 1971, he founded another band, Return to Forever. On its early records, Return to Forever had a bright sound dominated by Flora Purim's vocals, the Fender Rhodes electric piano, and Joe Farrell's flute. Airto Moreira played drums. Corea's compositions for this group often had a Brazilian tinge. In 1972, Corea played many of the early Return to Forever tunes in a group he put together for saxophonist Stan Getz; this group, with Stanley Clarke on bass and Tony Williams on drums, recorded the album Captain Marvel under Getz's name.

Related Topics:
1970 - 71 - Anthony Braxton - Barry Altschul - Return to Forever - Flora Purim - Fender Rhodes - Joe Farrell - Flute - Airto Moreira - Stan Getz - Stanley Clarke - Tony Williams - Captain Marvel

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Shortly thereafter, the band moved more in the direction of rock music influenced by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Only Clarke remained from the group's first lineup; Bill Connors played electric guitar and Lenny White played drums. In 1974 Al Di Meola joined the band, replacing Connors. In this second version of Return to Forever, Corea extended the use of synthesizers, particularly the Moog and Minimoog synthesizers.

Related Topics:
Rock music - Mahavishnu Orchestra - Bill Connors - Lenny White - Al Di Meola - Synthesizer - Moog - Minimoog

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Chick's composition "Spain" first appeared on the 1972 Return to Forever album Light as a Feather. This is probably his most popular piece, and it has been recorded by a variety of artists (notably Al Jarreau). There are also a variety of subsequent recordings by Chick himself in various contexts, including an arrangement for piano and symphony orchestra that appeared in 1999. Chick usually performs "Spain" with a prelude based on Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (1940).

Related Topics:
Spain - Light as a Feather - Al Jarreau - Joaquin Rodrigo's - Concierto de Aranjuez

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Later work

In the late '70s, Corea started working with vibraphonist Gary Burton, with whom he recorded several duet albums. His other bands include the Elektric Band, the Akoustic Band, and Origin.

Related Topics:
Vibraphonist - Gary Burton - Elektric Band - Akoustic Band

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The Akoustic Band released a self-titled album in 1989, and featured John Patitucci on bass and Dave Weckl on drums. All three members of the Akoustic Band are superlative technical musicians, and some listeners actually find the trio's immaculate sound to be too perfect, preferring Roy Haynes's rough-and-ready, reactive drumming to Weckl's clockwork precision. Nevertheless, the 1989 recording marks a turn back toward traditional jazz in Corea's career, and the bulk of his subsequent recordings have been acoustic ones.

Related Topics:
John Patitucci - Dave Weckl

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In 1992, he started his own record label, Stretch Records.

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In 2001, the Chick Corea New Trio, with Avishai Cohen and Jeff Ballard on bass and drums respectively, released the album Past, Present & Futures. Notably, the 11-song album includes only one standard composition (Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz"). The rest of the tunes are Corea originals, and the album shows the composer and pianist in an extremely fertile phase, full of energy. This trio, Chick's third major piano trio, has a more organic sound than the Akoustic Band, but sounds more "worldy" than the classic trio with Vitou? and Haynes, as both Ballard and Cohen have extensive experience with music from other cultures.

Related Topics:
Avishai Cohen - Jeff Ballard - Past, Present & Futures - Fats Waller's

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Chick also participated in a somewhat remarkable recording in 1998: Like Minds, which features Gary Burton on vibes, Pat Metheny on guitar, Dave Holland on bass and Roy Haynes on drums.

Related Topics:
Like Minds - Gary Burton - Pat Metheny - Dave Holland - Roy Haynes

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