Chick Corea - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Chick Corea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1/22/15 5:06 PM
Chick Corea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (born June 12, 1941)[3]

is an American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist, and
composer.
Chick Corea
Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a

member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in
the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s
he formed Return to Forever.[3] Along with Herbie Hancock,
McCoy Tyner, and Keith Jarrett, he has been described as
one of the major jazz piano voices to emerge in the postJohn
Coltrane era.[4]
Corea continued to pursue other collaborations and to explore
various musical styles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He is
also known for promoting and fundraising for a number of
social issues, such as eradicating social illiteracy.[5]
Contents
1 Life and career
1.1 Youth
Background information
Birth name
Armando Anthony Corea
Born
June 12, 1941 [1]

Chelsea, Massachusetts, United
States
1.2 Early career

1.3 Avant garde period
1.4 Jazz fusion
Genres
1.5 Duet projects

1.6 Later work
2 Scientology
Jazz, jazz fusion, post-bop, latin

jazz, classical music, avant-garde
jazz, bebop
Occupation(s) Musician, composer, bandleader

Instruments
3 Discography
Piano, keyboards, synthesizers,

organ, vibraphone, drums
4 Awards
Years active
1962present[2]
5 See also
Labels
ECM, Polydor, Stretch, Warner
6 References
7 External links
Bros.
Associated
acts
Return to Forever, Miles Davis,

Five Peace Band, Chaka Khan,
Chick Corea Elektric Band, Chick
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_Corea
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Life and career
Corea's Akoustic Band, Circle,

Stanley Clarke, Joe Farrell, Joe
Henderson, Hubert Laws, Herbie
Mann, Miroslav Vitous, Blue
Youth
Mitchell, Gary Burton, Pat

Metheny, Dave Holland, Eddie
Armando Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He is of

southern Italian and Spanish descent.[6][7] His father, a jazz
trumpet player who had led a Dixieland band in Boston in the
1930s and 1940s, introduced him to the piano at the age of
four. Growing up surrounded by jazz music, he was
influenced at an early age by bebop and stars such as Dizzy
Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Horace Silver, and
Lester Young. At eight Corea also took up drums, which
would later influence his use of the piano as a percussion
instrument.
Gmez, John Patitucci, Frank

Gambale, Anthony Braxton, Hiromi
Uehara, Al Di Meola, Herbie
Hancock, Bla Fleck, John
McLaughlin, Brian Blade, Bobby
McFerrin, Steve Gadd
Website
www.chickcorea.com
(http://www.chickcorea.com)
Corea developed his piano skills by exploring music on his

own. A notable influence was concert pianist Salvatore Sullo, from whom Corea started taking lessons at age
eight and who introduced him to classical music, helping spark his interest in musical composition. He also
spent several years as a performer and soloist for the St. Rose Scarlet Lancers, a drum and bugle corps based in
Chelsea.
Given a black tuxedo by his father, he started playing gigs when in high school. He enjoyed listening to Herb
Pomeroy's band at the time, and had a trio that played Horace Silver's music at a local jazz club.
He eventually decided to move to New York City, where he studied musical education for one month at
Columbia University and six months at Juilliard. He quit after finding both disappointing, but liked the
atmosphere of New York, and the music scene became the starting point for his professional career.
Early career
Corea's first major professional gig was with Cab Calloway. Corea started his professional career in the 1960s
playing with trumpeter Blue Mitchell and Latin musicians such as Herbie Mann, Willie Bobo and Mongo
Santamara. One of the earliest recordings of his playing is with Mitchell's quintet on The Thing To Do. This
album features his composition "Chick's Tune", a 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 drum solo by a very young Al Foster.)
His first album as a leader was Tones for Joan's Bones in 1966, two years before the release of his album Now
He Sings, Now He Sobs, with Roy Haynes on drums and Miroslav Vitou on bass.[3]
He made another sideman appearance with Stan Getz on 1967's Sweet Rain (Verve Records).[3]
Avant garde period

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From 1968 to 1971 Corea had associations with avant garde players, and his
solo style revealed a dissonant orientation. His avant garde playing can be heard
on his solo works of the period, his solos in live recordings under the leadership
of Miles Davis, his recordings with Circle, and his playing on Joe Farrell's Song
of the Wind album on CTI Records.
In September 1968 Corea replaced Herbie Hancock in the piano chair in Davis'
band and appeared on landmark albums such as Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a
Silent Way, and Bitches Brew. In concert, Davis' rhythm section of Corea, Dave
Holland, and Jack DeJohnette combined elements of free jazz improvisation and
rock music. Corea experimented with using electric instruments, mainly the
Fender Rhodes electric piano, in the Davis band.
In live performance he frequently processed the output of his electric piano with
a device called a ring modulator. Using this style, he appeared on multiple Davis
Chick Corea, 2007
albums, including Black Beauty: Live at the Fillmore West and Miles Davis at
Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East. His live performances with the Davis band
continued into 1970, with a touring band of Steve Grossman, tenor sax, Keith Jarrett, additional electric piano
and organ, Jack DeJohnette, drums, Dave Holland, bass, Airto Moreira, percussion, and Davis on trumpet.[3]
Holland and Corea left to form their own group, Circle, active in 1970 and 1971. This free jazz group featured
multi-reed player Anthony Braxton and drummer Barry Altschul. This band was documented on Blue Note and
ECM. Aside from soloing in an atonal style, Corea sometimes reached in the body of the piano and plucked the
strings. In 1971 or 1972 Corea struck out on his own. In April 1971 he recoded the sessions that became Piano
Improvisations Vol. 1 and Piano Improvisations Vol. 2 for ECM.
The concept of communication with an audience became a big thing for me at the time. The reason
I was using that concept so much at that point in my life in 1968, 1969 or so was because it was
a discovery for me. I grew up kind of only thinking how much fun it was to tinkle on the piano and
not noticing that what I did had an effect on others. I did not even think about a relationship to an
audience, really, until way later.[8]
Jazz fusion
In the early 1970s, Corea took a profound stylistic turn from avant garde playing to a crossover jazz fusion style
that incorporated Latin jazz elements with Return To Forever. Named after their eponymous 1971 album, the
band relied on both acoustic and electronic instrumentation and drew upon Latin American musical styles more
than on rock music. On their first two records, Return to Forever featured Flora Purim's vocals, Corea's Fender
Rhodes electric piano, Joe Farrell's flute and soprano saxophone, Airto Moreira on drums & percussion, with
Stanley Clarke rounding up the group on acoustic bass. [3] Drummer Lenny White and guitarist Bill Connors
later joined Corea and Clarke to form the second version of the group, which expanded upon the earlier Latin
Jazz elements with a more hard-edged rock and funk-oriented sound inspired by Corea's admiration for his
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Bitches Brew bandmate John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. This

incarnation of the group recorded the album Hymn of the Seventh
Galaxy, before Connors' departure and replacement by Al Di Meola,
who would be present on the subsequent releases Where Have I Known
You Before, and the best selling Romantic Warrior.
Corea's composition "Spain" first appeared on the 1972 Return to
Forever album Light as a Feather. This is probably his most popular
Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea,
piece, and it has been recorded by a variety of artists. There are also a
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage
variety of subsequent recordings by Corea himself in various contexts,
Festival in 2008
including an arrangement for piano and symphony orchestra that
appeared in 1999, and a collaborative piano and voice-as-instrument
arrangement with Bobby McFerrin on the 1992 album Play. Corea usually performs "Spain" with a prelude
based on Joaqun Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (1940), which earlier received a jazz orchestration on Davis
and Gil Evans' Sketches of Spain.
In 1976, he issued My Spanish Heart, influenced by Latin American music and featuring vocalist Gayle Moran
(Corea's wife) and electric violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. The record was somewhat misunderstood at the time, but it
is considered nowadays as a true example of Corea's ability to write fusion material. The album combined jazz
and flamenco, supported by Minimoog backup and a powerful horn section.
Duet projects
In the 1970s Corea started working occasionally with vibraphonist Gary Burton, with whom he recorded several
duet albums on ECM, including 1972's Crystal Silence. They reunited in 2006 for a concert tour. A new record
called The New Crystal Silence was issued in 2008 and won a Grammy award in 2009. The package includes a
disc of duets and another disc featuring the Sydney Symphony.
Toward the end of the 1970s, Corea embarked on a series of concerts and two albums with Hancock. These
concerts were presented in elegant settings with both pianists formally dressed, and performing on Yamaha
concert grand pianos. The two traded playing each other's compositions, as well as pieces by other composers
such as Bla Bartk.
In 1982, Corea performed The Meeting, a live duet with the classical pianist Friedrich Gulda.
In December 2007 Corea recorded a duet album, The Enchantment, with banjoist Bela Fleck.[9] Fleck and
Corea toured extensively behind the album in 2007. Fleck was nominated in the Best Instrumental Composition
category at the 49th Grammy Awards for the track "Spectacle".[10]
In 2008 Corea collaborated with Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara on the live album Duet (Chick Corea and
Hiromi). The duo played a concert at Tokyo's Budokan arena on April 30.[11]
Later work
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Corea's other bands include the Chick Corea Elektric Band, its
traditional jazz trio reduction called Akoustic Band, Origin, and its
traditional jazz trio reduction called The New Trio.
Corea signed a record deal with GRP Records in 1986 which led to the
release of ten albums between 1986 and 1994, seven with the Elektric
Band, two with the Akoustic Band and a solo album "Expressions".
The Akoustic Band released a self-titled album in 1989 and a live
follow-up, "Alive" in 1991, both featuring John Patitucci on bass and
Dave Weckl on drums. It marked a turn back toward traditional jazz in
Corea's career, and the bulk of his subsequent recordings have been
acoustic ones. The Akoustic Band also provided the music for the 1986
Pixar short Luxo Jr. with their song "The Game Maker".
Corea performs with Bla Fleck,

March 1, 2008
In 1992 Corea started his own label, Stretch Records.[3]

In 2001 the Chick Corea New Trio, with Avishai Cohen and Jeff Ballard on bass and drums, respectively,
released the album Past, Present & Futures. The 11-song album includes only one standard composition (Fats
Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz"). The rest of the tunes are Corea originals.
He also participated in 1998's Like Minds, which features Gary Burton on vibes, Pat Metheny on guitar, Dave
Holland on bass and Roy Haynes on drums.
Recent years have also seen Corea's rising interest in contemporary classical music. He composed his first piano
concerto and an adaptation of his signature piece, "Spain", for a full symphony orchestra and performed it in
1999 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Five years later he composed his first work not to feature any
keyboards: his String Quartet No. 1 was specifically written for the Orion String Quartet and performed by them
at 2004's Summerfest.
Corea has continued releasing jazz fusion concept albums such as To the Stars (2004) and Ultimate Adventure
(2006). The latter album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group.
In 2008, the third version of Return to Forever (Corea, keyboards; Stanley Clarke, bass; Lenny White, drums;
Di Meola, guitar) reunited for a worldwide tour. The reunion received positive reviews from most jazz and
mainstream publications.[12] Most of the group's studio recordings were re-released on the compilation Return
to Forever: The Anthology to coincide with the tour. A concert DVD recorded during their performance at the
Montreux Jazz Festival was released in May 2009. He also worked on a collaboration CD with the vocal group
The Manhattan Transfer.
A new group, the 5 Peace Band, which features Corea and guitarist John McLaughlin, began a world tour in
October 2008. Corea had previously worked with McLaughlin in Davis' late 1960s bands, including the group
that recorded Davis' album Bitches Brew. Joining Corea and McLaughlin were saxophonist Kenny Garrett and
bassist Christian McBride. Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta played with the band in Europe and on select North
American dates; Brian Blade played all dates in Asia and Australia, and most dates in North America. The
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variety of Corea's music was celebrated in a 2011 retrospective with Corea playing with the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; a New York Times reviewer had high praise for
the occasion: "Mr. Corea was masterly with the other musicians, absorbing the rhythm and feeding the soloists.
It sounded like a band, and Mr. Corea had no need to dominate; his authority was clear without raising
volume."[13]
A new band for 2013, Chick Corea & The Vigil, featured Corea along with bassist Hadrien Feraud, Marcus
Gilmore on drums (carrying on the lineage of jazz from his grandfather, Roy Haynes), saxes, flute, and bass
clarinet from Tim Garland, and guitarist Charles Altura.
Scientology
Corea says that Scientology has helped deepen his relationships with others, and helped him find a renewed
path.[4] Under the "special thanks" notes in all of his later albums, Corea mentions that L. Ron Hubbard,
founder of Scientology, has been a continual source of inspiration. In 1968 Corea discovered Dianetics,
Hubbard's principal work, and in the early 1970s developed an interest in Hubbard's science fiction novels. The
two exchanged letters until Hubbard's death in 1986, and Corea had three guest appearances on Hubbard's 1982
album Space Jazz: The Soundtrack of the Book Battlefield Earth, noting, "[Hubbard] was a great composer and
keyboard player as well. He did many, many things. He was a true Renaissance Man."[14] Corea said that
Scientology became a profound influence on his musical direction in the early 1970s: "I no longer wanted to
satisfy myself. I really want to connect with the world and make my music mean something to people."[15]
In 1993, Corea was excluded from a concert during the 1993 World Championships in Athletics in Stuttgart,
Germany. The concert's organizers excluded Corea after the state government of Baden-Wrttemberg had
announced it would review its subsidies for events featuring avowed members of Scientology.[16][17] After
Corea's complaint against this policy before the administrative court was unsuccessful in 1996,[18] members of
the U.S. Congress decried a violation of Corea's human rights in a letter to the German government.[19]
However, Corea is not banned from performing in Germany and even had several appearances at the
government-supported International Jazz Festival in Burghausen, where he was awarded a plaque in
Burghausen's "Street of Fame" in 2011.[20]
In 1998, Corea and fellow entertainers Anne Archer, Isaac Hayes, and Haywood Nelson attended the 30th
anniversary of Freedom magazine, the Church of Scientology's investigative news journal, at the National Press
Club in Washington, D.C., to honor 11 human rights activists.[21]
Discography
Awards
Up to and including 2013, Corea has been nominated for sixty-one Grammy Awards, out of which he has won
20:
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Year
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Award
Album/song
1976
Best jazz instrumental

performance, group
No Mystery (with Return to Forever)
1977
Best arrangement of an
instrumental recording
Leprechaun's Dream, The Leprechaun
1977

performance, group
The Leprechaun
1979

performance, group
Friends
1980

performance, group
Duet (with Gary Burton)
1982

performance, group
In Concert, Zrich, October 28, 1979 (with Gary Burton)
1989
Best R&B instrumental

performance
Light Years, GRP Super Live In Concert (with Elektric Band)
1990

performance, group
Akoustic Band
2000 Best instrumental solo

2001

performance
Rhumbata, Native Sense (with Gary Burton)

Like Minds (with Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes and Dave
Holland)
2002 Best instrumental arrangement
Spain for Sextet & Orchestra, Corea.Concerto
2004 Best jazz instrumental solo
Matrix, Rendezvous in New York
2007

performance, group
The Ultimate Adventure
2007 Best instrumental arrangement
Three Ghouls, The Ultimate Adventure
2008 Best jazz instrumental album
The New Crystal Silence (with Gary Burton)
Five Peace BandLive (with John McLaughlin, Kenny Garrett,

Christian McBride, Vinnie Colaiuta)
2012 Best improvised jazz solo
500 Miles High, from Forever (with Stanley Clarke, Lenny White)
Forever (with Corea, Clarke & White) (with Stanley Clarke, Lenny
White)
2013 Best improvised jazz solo
Hot House, from Hot House (with Gary Burton)
2013 Best Instrumental Composition Mozart Goes Dancing, from Hot House (with Gary Burton)
Corea has also won two Latin Grammy Awards.
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Year
Award
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Album/song
2007 Best instrumental album The Enchantment (with Bela Fleck)

2011 Best instrumental album Forever (with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White)
His 1968 album Now He Sings, Now He Sobs was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
In 2010, he was named doctor honoris causa at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).[22]
See also
References
1. ^ "Today in history" (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/today-history-24100059?singlePage=true). ABC News.
Associated Press. June 12, 2014.
2. ^ Yanow, Scott (June 12, 1941). "Chick Corea" (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/chick-corea-p66463/biography).
AllMusic. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
3. ^ a b c d e f g allmusic Biography (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p66463/biography)
4. ^ a b Heckman, Don (August 18, 2001). "Playing in His Key" (http://articles.latimes.com/2001/aug/18/entertainment/ca35464). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
5. ^ "Literacy 2005: Celebrities, Church of Scientology Vow To Eradicate Social Ill". The Sacramento Observer 36 (43).
September 15, 1999. p. F2.
6. ^ talking to les tomkins in 1972 jazzprofessional.com
7. ^ "Chick Corea: Brazil Jazz.com | Jazz Music Jazz Artists Jazz News"
(http://www.jazz.com/music/2007/11/5/chick-corea-brazil). Jazz.com. November 20, 1999. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
8. ^ "Chick Corea Interview on ArtistInterviews" (http://www.artistinterviews.eu/?page_id=6&parent_id=22). Retrieved
March 28, 2008.
9. ^ Levine, Doug (April 24, 2007). "Chick Corea, Bela Fleck Collaborate On New CD"
(http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-04/2007-04-24-voa68.cfm). VOA News (Voice of America). Retrieved
January 1, 2009.
10. ^ Concord Music Group : (http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/news/concord-music-group-garners-28-grammynominations/)
11. ^ [1] (http://www.nme.com/video/id/S2m4Oy9TWmo/search/flh)
12. ^ Chinen, Nate (August 3, 2008). "The Return of Return to Forever"
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/arts/music/03chin.html). The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
13. ^ Ratliff, Ben (23 January 2011). "A Jazz Man Returns to His Past"
(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/arts/music/24corea.html?_r=0). The New York Times. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
14. ^ "All About Jazz Chick Corea interview" (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=15351). Retrieved
March 24, 2008.
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15. ^ Down Beat, October 21, 1976, p.47

16. ^ "Biographie bei Laut.de" (http://www.laut.de/Chick-Corea) (in German). Retrieved 2010-10-06.
17. ^ Werner Bloch (1999-01-23). "Chick Corea: Scientology-Zeuge gegen Deutschland" (http://www.ingoheinemann.de/Prominente.htm#Corea) (in German). Sddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 2010-10-06. |chapter= ignored
(help)
18. ^ VGH Baden-Wrttemberg, Urteil vom 15. Oktober 1996, Az. 10 S 176/96
19. ^ Hennessey, Mike (January 18, 2011). "U.S. lawmakers rip Germany's ban of Corea show."
(http://books.google.com/books?
id=6BEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=billboard+magazine+%2B+Germany's+ban+of+Corea+show&sourc
e=bl&ots=bNzTHOxVH6&sig=zOEiQow0eDr8U2KCsMjTektvGrc&hl=en&ei=7XH2TdGdCY74sAOOkpTaCw&sa=
X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage). Billboard. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
20. ^ Haserer, Wolfgang (January 18, 2011). "Musikalisch unumstritten" (http://www.ovb-online.de/kultur/musikalischunumstritten-1085897.html). OVB Online. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
21. ^ Haywood You Remember Garden City Park (http://antonnews.com/mineolaamerican/1998/10/23/news/)
22. ^ "Chick Corea utnevnt til resdoktor NRK Trndelag NRK Nyheter"
(http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nrk_trondelag/1.7355183). Nrk.no. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
External links
Official site (http://www.chickcorea.com/)
Official discography
Wikiquote has quotations

related to: Chick Corea
(http://www.chickcorea.com/discography.html)
Jazzreview.com biography
(https://web.archive.org/web/20090111032628/http://www.jazzreview.com/articledetails.cfm?ID=498) at
the Wayback Machine (archived January 11, 2009)
Verve Records Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20071013193702/http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist.aspx?aid=2713)
October 13, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
An Interview with Chick Corea (http://www.bobrosenbaum.com/transcripts/corea1.pdf) by Bob
Rosenbaum, July 1974 (PDF file) "You put these notes together and you come out with that sound, and
isn't it beautiful. So what? What does it do to another person? What does it do to your neighborhood?"
Chick Corea talks to Michael J Stewart about his Piano Concerto
(http://www.imageandmusic.com/musicjournalism/corea/chick_corea.html)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chick_Corea&oldid=642924475"
Page 9 of 10
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Categories: 1941 births American jazz composers American jazz musicians American jazz pianists
American people of Italian descent American people of Sicilian descent
American people of Spanish descent American Scientologists Crossover (music) ECM Records artists
Grammy Award-winning artists GRP Records artists Jazz fusion pianists Keytarists
Latin Grammy Award winners Living people Miles Davis Musicians from Massachusetts
People from Chelsea, Massachusetts Post-bop pianists Return to Forever members
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Chick Corea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (born June 12, 1941)[3]

Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a

Armando Anthony Corea

June 12, 1941 [1]

1.2 Early career

1.5 Duet projects

Jazz, jazz fusion, post-bop, latin

Occupation(s) Musician, composer, bandleader

Piano, keyboards, synthesizers,

ECM, Polydor, Stretch, Warner

Return to Forever, Miles Davis,