Chick Corea

Armando Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1941,{{cite news |title= Today in history |work= ABC News |date= June 12, 2014 |url= https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/today-history-24100059?singlePage=true |agency= Associated Press}} to parents Anna (née Zaccone) and Armando J. Corea.{{cite web |last1=Russonello |first1=Giovanni |title=Chick Corea, Jazz Keyboardist and Innovator, Dies at 79 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/arts/music/chick-corea-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=12 February 2021 |date=11 February 2021}} He was of southern Italian descent, his father having been born to an immigrant from Albi, a commune in the Province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region.{{Cite web|url=https://marktowns.com/chick-corea-interview/|title=Chick Corea Interview|website=Marktowns.com|date=April 28, 2024 }}{{Cite web|url=http://chickcorea.com/blog/2018/06/06/musica-jazz-italy/|title=Musica Jazz, Italy – Chick Corea|website=Chickcorea.com|date=June 6, 2018 }} His father, a trumpeter who led a Dixieland band in Boston in the 1930s and 1940s, introduced him to the piano at the age of four.{{cite web |title=Chick Corea On Piano Jazz |url=https://www.wwno.org/post/chick-corea-piano-jazz |website=WWNO |access-date=12 February 2021 |date=January 20, 2013}} Surrounded by jazz, he was influenced at an early age by bebop and musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Horace Silver, and Lester Young.{{Cite web |title=Chick Corea |url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/chick-corea |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=www.arts.gov }} He came into possession of a drumset at age 11,{{Cite interview |last=Corea |first=Chick |interviewer=Ted Rosenthal |title=Freedom and Taste |type=Magazine |url=https://www.tedrosenthal.com/docs/ChickCoreaInterview.pdf |format=PDF |work=Piano & Keyboard |date=January–February 1998 |pages=28-34}} and would occasionally play drums for the rest of his career.{{Cite web |title=The Checkout: Steve Gadd Remembers When Chick Corea Gave Him a Lesson On the Drums |url=https://www.wbgo.org/podcast/the-checkout/2021-02-12/the-checkout-steve-gadd-remembers-when-chick-corea-gave-him-a-lesson-on-the-drums |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=WBGO }}

Corea developed his piano skills while exploring music on his own. At first, his father taught him piano, but eventually, the elder Corea thought it proper that his son receive instruction from a professional teacher. At the age of eight, he began taking formal lessons with Italian concert pianist Salvatore Sullo. Sullo was indifferent to the young Corea’s passion for jazz, instead teaching him to play classical piano, but being introduced to classical music helped spark Corea’s interest in musical composition.

Given a black tuxedo by his father, he started playing gigs while still 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 moved to New York City, where he studied music at Columbia University, then transferred to the Juilliard School. He later dropped out so he could spend more time playing gigs.

File:Chick Corea 1976.JPG

Corea began his professional recording and touring career in the early 1960s with Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, and Stan Getz. In 1966, he recorded his debut album, Tones for Joan's Bones. In March 1968, he recorded the highly regarded trio album, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, with drummer Roy Haynes and bassist Miroslav Vitouš.

In the fall of 1968,{{Cite web |title=Early Years: 1941-71 {{!}} Chick Corea |url=https://chickcorea.com/bio/1941-71/ |access-date=2024-01-29 }} Corea began recording and touring with Miles Davis, appearing on the widely praised Davis studio albums Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and On the Corner. He also appeared on later compilation albums Big Fun, Water Babies, and Circle in the Round. He left Davis' band shortly after its performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.

Bassist Dave Holland departed the Davis group with Corea to form their own group, Circle, with multireedist Anthony Braxton and drummer Barry Altschul. They were active from 1970 to 1971, and recorded on Blue Note and ECM.{{Cite web |last=Layne |first=Joslyn |title=Circle Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/circle-mn0001199548 |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=AllMusic }} In 1971, Corea, at the behest of ECM producer Manfred Eicher, began playing solo piano, recording the sessions that became Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 and Piano Improvisations Vol. 2 in April of that year.{{Cite news |last=Fordham |first=John |date=2010-04-01 |title=Chick Corea: Solo Piano, Improvisations and Children's Songs |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/apr/01/chick-corea-solo-improvisations |access-date=2024-01-31 |newspaper=The Guardian }} In 1974, Corea collaborated with Richie Grasso on the latter's album Season of Grace, produced by Morris Levy's Tiger Lily Records.{{cite web |title=Richard Grasso |url=http://badcatrecords.com/GRASSOrichard.htm |website=Bad Cat Records |access-date=25 November 2024}}

File:Al Di Meola & Chick Corea.jpg and Return to Forever in Rochester, New York, 1976]]

Named after their eponymous 1972 album, Corea's Return to Forever band combined acoustic and electronic instrumentation, and initially drew upon Hispanic music styles more than rock music. On their first two records, the group consisted of Flora Purim on vocals and percussion, Joe Farrell on flute and soprano saxophone, Miles Davis bandmate Airto on drums and percussion, and Stanley Clarke on acoustic double bass. Drummer Lenny White and guitarist Bill Connors later joined Corea and Clarke to form the second version of the group, which blended the earlier Latin music elements with rock and funk-oriented music. This incarnation of the band recorded the album Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, before Connors' replacement by Al Di Meola, who later played on Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery and Romantic Warrior.{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Geoff |date=2020-11-15 |title=Vinyl Vault—Return to Forever: "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy" |url=https://www.kuvo.org/vinyl-vault-return-to-forever-hymn-of-the-seventh-galaxy/ |access-date=2024-01-31 }}

In 1976, Corea released My Spanish Heart, influenced by Hispanic music and featuring vocalist Gayle Moran (Corea's wife) and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. The album combined jazz and flamenco, supported by Minimoog synthesizer and a horn section. He collaborated with flamenco guitarist Paco De Lucía years later on the Touchstone and Zyryab albums.

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File:Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea.jpg and Corea, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2008]]

In the 1970s, Corea started working with vibraphonist Gary Burton, with whom he recorded several duet albums for 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 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Towards the end of the 1970s, Corea embarked on a series of concerts with fellow pianist Herbie Hancock. These concerts were presented in elegant settings with both artists dressed formally and performing on concert grand pianos. The two played each other's compositions, as well as pieces by other composers such as Béla Bartók, and duets. In 1982, Corea performed The Meeting, a live duet with the classical pianist Friedrich Gulda.

File:Béla Fleck and Chick Corea 2, March 1, 2008.jpg on March 1, 2008]]

In December 2007, Corea recorded a duet album, The Enchantment, with banjoist Béla Fleck.{{cite news|first=Doug |last=Levine |title=Chick Corea, Bela Fleck Collaborate On New CD |date=April 24, 2007 |publisher=Voice of America |url=http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-04/2007-04-24-voa68.cfm |work=VOA News |access-date=January 1, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124233626/http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-04/2007-04-24-voa68.cfm |archive-date=January 24, 2009 }} Fleck and Corea toured extensively for the album in 2007. Fleck was nominated in the Best Instrumental Composition category at the 49th Grammy Awards for the track "Spectacle".{{Cite web|url=https://concord.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015174952/https://concord.com/|url-status=dead|title=Concord | Independent Music|archive-date=October 15, 2019|website=Concord Entertainment Company|access-date=October 14, 2019}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/video/id/S2m4Oy9TWmo/search/flh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126141436/http://www.nme.com/video/id/S2m4Oy9TWmo/search/flh|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 26, 2009|title=Website undergoing maintenance | NME.com| website=NME |date=January 26, 2009}}

In 2015, he reprised the duet concert series with Hancock, again sticking to a dueling-piano format, though both now integrated synthesizers into their repertoire. The first concert in this series was at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle and included improvisations, compositions by the duo, and standards by other composers.{{cite news|first=Paul|last=de Barros|title=Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea prove masters know how to have fun|date=March 15, 2015|url =http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/herbie-hancock-chick-corea-proved-masters-know-how-to-have-fun/| newspaper=The Seattle Times|access-date =March 15, 2015}}

Corea's other bands included the Chick Corea Elektric Band, its trio reduction called "Akoustic Band", Origin, and its 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 return to traditional jazz trio instrumentation in Corea's career, and the bulk of his subsequent recordings have featured acoustic piano.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XZu8DBLSs| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809094809/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XZu8DBLSs&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2019-08-09 | url-status=dead|title=The Chick Corea Akoustic Band. Jazz San Javier 2018 |publisher=YouTube}}

In 1992, Corea started his own label, Stretch Records.

File:Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, Blue Note Jazz Club, New York City, 10 December 2016.jpg, Blue Note Jazz Club, New York City, December 10, 2016.]]

In 2001, the Chick Corea New Trio, with bassist Avishai Cohen and drummer Jeff Ballard, released the album Past, Present & Futures. The eleven-song album includes only one standard (Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz"). The rest of the tunes are Corea originals. He participated in 1998's Like Minds with old associates Gary Burton on vibraphone, Dave Holland on bass, Roy Haynes on drums, and Pat Metheny playing guitars.

During the later part of his career, Corea also explored contemporary classical music. He composed his first piano concerto—an adaptation of his signature piece "Spain" for a full symphony orchestra—and performed it in 1999 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2004, he composed his first work without keyboards: his String Quartet No. 1 was written for the Orion String Quartet and performed by them at 2004's Summerfest in Wisconsin.

Corea continued recording fusion albums such as To the Stars (2004) and Ultimate Adventure (2006). The latter won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group.

In 2008, the third version of Return to Forever (Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, and Di Meola) reunited for a worldwide tour. The reunion received positive reviews from jazz and mainstream publications.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/arts/music/03chin.html|work=The New York Times|title=The Return of Return to Forever | first=Nate | last=Chinen | date=August 3, 2008 | access-date=April 1, 2010}} 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 Five Peace Band, began a world tour in October 2008. The ensemble included John McLaughlin, whom Corea had previously worked with in Miles Davis's late 1960s bands, including the group that recorded Davis's classic 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 vast reach of Corea's music was celebrated in a 2011 retrospective with Corea guesting 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."{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/arts/music/24corea.html?_r=0| title=A Jazz Man Returns to His Past| last=Ratliff| first=Ben| date=23 January 2011| access-date=20 June 2013| work=The New York Times}}

A new band, Chick Corea & The Vigil, featured Corea with bassist Hadrien Feraud, Marcus Gilmore on drums (carrying on from his grandfather, Roy Haynes), saxes, flute, and bass clarinet from Origin vet Tim Garland, and guitarist Charles Altura.

Corea celebrated his 75th birthday in 2016 by playing with more than 20 different groups during a six-week stand at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, New York City. "I pretty well ignore the numbers that make up 'age'. It seems to be the best way to go. I have always just concentrated on having the most fun I can with the adventure of music.""Chick Corea, 75th Birthday Celebration, October 19 thru December 11, 2016," New York: Blue Note

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Corea and his first wife Joanie had two children, Thaddeus and Liana; the marriage ended in divorce. In 1972, Corea married his second wife, vocalist/pianist Gayle Moran.{{cite web |first=Brian |last=Zimmerman |date=21 August 2019 |title=On the road with Chick: A jazz globetrotter shares his favorite spots and travel tips |website=jazziz.com |url=https://www.jazziz.com/on-the-road-with-chick-a-jazz-globetrotter-shares-his-favorite-spots-and-travel-tips/}}{{cite encyclopedia |title=Corea, Chick |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/corea-chick}}

In 1968, Corea read Dianetics, author L. Ron Hubbard's most well-known self-help book, and developed an interest in Hubbard's other works in the early 1970s: "I came into contact with L. Ron Hubbard's material in 1968 with Dianetics and it kind of opened my mind up and it got me into seeing that my potential for communication was a lot greater than I thought it was."{{cite news |last=Corea |first=Chick |date=13 February 2016 |title=Chick Corea, on The Ultimate Adventure |website=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5203383 |access-date=13 February 2016}}

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."{{cite magazine |magazine=Down Beat |date=21 October 1976 |page=47 |title={{grey|[title not cited]}} |quote=I no longer wanted to satisfy myself. I really want to connect with the world and make my music mean something to people.}} With Clarke{{cite web |last=Ediriwira |first=Amar |date=4 October 2016 |title=How L. Ron Hubbard made the craziest jazz record ever |website=The Vinyl Factory |url=https://thevinylfactory.com/features/l-ron-hubbard-music-space-jazz/ |access-date=18 February 2021}} Corea played on Space Jazz: The soundtrack of the book Battlefield Earth, a 1982 album to accompany L. Ron Hubbard's novel Battlefield Earth.{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Morris |date=11 February 2021 |magazine=Variety |title=Chick Corea, jazz fusion pioneer, dies at 79 |type=obituary |url=https://variety.com/2021/music/news/chick-corea-dead-jazz-fusion-pioneer-1234906551/ |access-date=18 February 2021}}

Corea was excluded from a concert during the 1993 World Championships in Athletics in Stuttgart, Germany. The concert's organizers excluded him after the state government of Baden-Württemberg had announced it would review its subsidies for events featuring avowed members of Scientology.{{cite web |title=Chick Corea |series=Biographie bei |website=Laut.de |url=http://www.laut.de/Chick-Corea |access-date=2010-10-06}}{{cite news |author=Bloch, Werner |date=1999-01-23 |title=Chick Corea: Scientology-Zeuge gegen Deutschland: Ein peinlicher Auftritt in Berlin: Chick Coreas Konzert im Namen von Scientology |language=de |newspaper=Süddeutsche Zeitung |url=http://www.ingo-heinemann.de/Prominente.htm#Corea |access-date=2010-10-06 |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824154953/http://www.ingo-heinemann.de/Prominente.htm#Corea}} After Corea's complaint against this policy before the administrative court was unsuccessful in 1996,VGH Baden-Württemberg, Urteil vom 15 Oktober 1996, Aktenzeichen 10 S 176/96 members of the United States Congress, in a letter to the German government, denounced the ban as a violation of Corea's human rights.{{cite news |first=Mike |last=Hennessey |author-link=Mike Hennessey |date=18 January 2011 |title=U.S. lawmakers rip Germany's ban of Corea show |magazine=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6BEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16 |access-date=9 June 2011 |via=Google Books}} Corea was not banned from performing in Germany, however, and had several appearances at the government-supported International Jazz Festival in Burghausen; he was awarded a plaque on Burghausen's "Street of Fame" in 2011.{{cite news |first=Wolfgang |last=Haserer |date=18 January 2011 |title=Musikalisch unumstritten |publisher=OVB Online |language=de |url=http://www.ovb-online.de/kultur/musikalisch-unumstritten-1085897.html |access-date=13 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325165118/http://www.ovb-online.de/kultur/musikalisch-unumstritten-1085897.html |archive-date=25 March 2012 }}

Corea died at his home in Tampa, Florida, on February 9, 2021, shortly after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He was 79.{{cite news |last=Shteamer |first=Hank |date=11 February 2021 |title = Chick Corea, jazz pianist who expanded the possibilities of the genre, dead at 79 |type=obituary |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/chick-corea-obit-1127283/ |access-date=11 February 2021}}

{{Main|Chick Corea discography}}

Corea's 1968 album Now He Sings, Now He Sobs was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. In 1997, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.{{cite web|url=http://www.thekurlandagency.com/kurlandpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/CCSymphony.pdf|title=Chick Corea|website=The Kurland Agency|access-date= January 24, 2018|date=November 2015}} In 2010, he was named Doctor Honoris Causa at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).{{cite web|url=http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/nrk_trondelag/1.7355183 |title=Chick Corea utnevnt til æresdoktor – NRK Trøndelag – NRK Nyheter |date=October 27, 2010 |publisher=Nrk.no |access-date=July 1, 2011}}

Grammy Awards

As of May 2024, Corea has won 27 Grammy Awards and was nominated 72 times for the award.{{cite web|title=Artist: Chick Corea|url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/chick-corea/9341 |website=Grammy.com |publisher=Recording Academy |access-date=May 17, 2024|date=2024}}

Latin Grammy Awards

{{Reflist}}

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{{Wikiquote}}

• [http://www.chickcorea.com/ Official site]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100526060018/http://www.chickcorea.com/discography.html Official discography]
• {{Discogs artist|Chick Corea}}
• [http://www.bobrosenbaum.com/transcripts/corea1.pdf An Interview with Chick Corea] by Bob Rosenbaum, July 1974
• [https://www.michaeljstewart.co.uk/interview-with-chick-corea Chick Corea talks to Michael J Stewart about his Piano Concerto]
• [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/chick-corea Chick Corea Interview] at NAMM Oral History Collection (2016, 2018)
• {{IMDb name|id=0179706}}

{{Chick Corea}}

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