Corea, Chick (Armando Anthony)

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Corea, Chick (Armando Anthony)

Corea, Chick (Armando Anthony) , influential jazz-fusion pianist, composer; b. Chelsea, Mass., June 12, 1941. His father was a Latin percussionist of Portuguese origin who took Chick to hear live jazz. Chick began piano at four; Bud Powell was his first jazz inspiration. He studied classical piano as a teenager. In the 1950s in Boston, he played at Wally’s Jazz Club, in Phil Barboza’s Latin band, and had a trio with Tony Williams and Don Alias. He began studying liberal arts at Columbia Univ. (1958), but decided to become a full-time musician after seeing the Miles Davis group with Coltrane at Birdland (January 1959). Joe Farrell helped introduce him and he began working and recording with Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, and Cal Tjader. In the early 1960s, he worked with Blue Mitchell and Herbie Mann and spent a year accompanying Sarah Vaughan. In March 1968 he recorded Now; He Sings, Now He Sobs with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes, which was widely influential; his solo on “Matrix” was transcribed, studied, and performed by Lee Konitz and others. He joined Miles Davis’s band (mid-1968-mid-1970; recording 1972), playing first acoustic, then electric piano at the insistence of the leader. During his tenure, he also became more involved in free improvisation, recording the album Is, on which he also played percussion. After Davis, he led Circle (1970–71) with Dave Holland, Barry Altschul, and Anthony Braxton, and also performed and recorded solo (1971). During this time, he was introduced to Scientology and decided that he wanted his music to be more accessible, “melodic and lyrical with more traditional rhythms” and with occasional vocals; he has concentrated heavily since then on composition. Corea has created a distinct musical identity by a conscious incorporation of his Latin roots and experiences and of modern classical music, particularly Bartok.

Corea performed at the Village Vanguard (January 1972) and recorded the album Return to Forever, which became the title of the band that included Farrell, Stanley Clarke, Airto Moreira, and Flora Purim. He, Clarke, and Tony Williams toured with Stan Getz (1972), before turning to full-time touring with Return to Forever. By 1973, the band featured Clarke, Lenny White, and Bill Connors, replaced by Al DiMeola in 1974. Corea began using a broader range of keyboards, including the Moog synthesizer. He settled in Los Angeles in the mid- 1970s and added his friend and eventual wife, singer Gayle Moran, to the group. Return to Forever had six albums reach the Billboard pop album chart in the 1970s, three in the Top 40. He continued using the Return to Forever title for his bands through 1977. Corea then delved into a diverse series of recordings: electronic ensembles, solo piano, chamber music, reunions with Vitous and Haynes (occasionally for tours and recordings since 1981), and acoustic duos with Herbie Hancock (1978, on tour and on recordings) and Gary Burton (occasionally since 1972). Other projects include the Grammy winning Leprechaun, and tours and recordings with Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard (1979–82). In June 1982 he recorded duets with European pianists accomplished in both classical music and jazz, Friedrich Gulda and Nicolas Economou, the latter including some music of Bartok. He has also recorded Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orch. (with Gulda); his own piano concerto was premiered in 1986, but not recorded. 727

Corea began an association with GRP Records in 1985 that was marked by the release of a recording with his new group, the Elektric Band; this also was the beginning of his collaboration with John Patitucci and Dave Weckl, who recorded and performed acoustic trio music as the Akoustic Band. In 1992 he and his manager, Ron Moss, formed Stretch Records. Among its early releases have been projects by Bob Berg, Patitucci, Eddie Gomez, and Robben Ford. He also runs the Mad Hatter studio in Los Angeles. He toured in 1996 with his Time Warp quartet in the U.S. and Europe. Also that year, he performed with Bobby McFerrin and the St. Paul Chamber Orch., playing two Mozart concerti and some duets and then made a recording. In 1996 he also toured and recorded with Joshua Redman, Roy Haynes, and others to celebrate the legacy of Bud Powell. He recorded on drums with Wayne Shorter on his record Super Nova. He holds an honorary doctorate from Berklee (1997). He studied martial arts with Portland, Ore. native Fred King some years ago and performed “Sifu” for him with his latest group, Origin (1998).

Besides his many influential albums, many of Corea’s compositions have become new standards in the jazz-fusion movement. These include “Crystal Silence,” “Tones for Joan’s Bones,” “500 Miles High,” “Spain,” and “La Fiesta,” among others.

Discography

Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (1968); Sundance (1969); Is (1969); Song of Singing (1970); Early Circle (1970); Circulus (1970); Circling In (1970); Piano Improvisations, Vols. 1, 2 (1971); A.R.C. (1971); Return to Forever (1972); Light As a Feather (1972); Crystal Silence (1972); Children of Forever (1972); Seven Songs for Quartet and Chamber Group (1973); Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973); Leprechaun (1975); Dreams So Real (1975); Romantic Warrior (1976); Passengers (1976); My Spanish Heart (1976); Return to Forever Live (1977); Music Magic (1977); Tap Step (1978); Secret Agent (1978); R.T.R Live (1978); Mad Hatter (1978); Homecoming: Corea and Hancock (1978); Friends (1978); Evening with Herbie Hancock (1978); Duet (1978); Delphi I, II, III: Solo Piano Improvisations (1978); In Concert (1979); Duet (1979); An Evening With (1980); Trio Music (1981); Three Quartets (1981); Touchstone (1982); Meeting (1982); Lyric Suite for Sextet (1982); Chick and Lionel (1982); Children’s Songs (1983); Voyage (1984); Trio Music: Live in Europe (1984); Septet (1984); Sea Journey (1985); Elektric Band (1986); Light Years (1987); Times Like These (1988); Eye of the Beholder (1988); Akoustic Band (1989); Right Time, Right Place (1990); Inside Out (1990); Expressions (1993); Time Warp (1995); A Week at the Blue Note (1998); Origin (1998).