Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

RIP Chick Corea


Recommended Posts

One of the true masters of jazz piano and one of the very few masters of jazz synthesizer (a woefully under-represented group, imo).

 

I met him for the first time in 2003 at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, where I was performing with organissimo (and special guest Ron Blake). That was an incredible experience for me personally as I really hadn't done anything on that level before. Chick was not playing the festival that year but the headliner the same night we performed was none other than Herbie Hancock. So Chick came backstage to hang and talk to Herbie. But he was so approachable and kind and gracious to all the musicians in the 'green room' area (a big tent, really... it was an outdoor festival in Florida after all) and I got to chat with him for a few minutes about music and the organ and synths. He was super cool and just exuded poise and grace but in a totally unassuming and down to earth way.

 

I saw him again in the summer of 2019 in Perugia, Italy where I was performing with Thornetta Davis as part of the Umbria jazz festival. I could not believe how precise his playing was that night, at the age of 77, just throwing down on the piano and Moog and Rhodes (synthesized on a Yamaha Montage). That was the Spanish Heart band and they were all absolutely on fire. It was an amazing performance. And he was just as gracious before the show, talking to everyone backstage and smiling, taking pictures.

 

What a legend. The RTF records are staples of my listening. The stuff with Flora Purim is just sublime. His Rhodes playing is the epitome of what one can achieve, right up there with Herbie. What a monster. Thank you for all the music and inspiration, Mr. Corea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Replies 149
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

So many people have already covered it. In reflecting on Chick's influence on me, I realize that I probably got to Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music through him, well before I started really going down those paths in earnest. He also embodied the versatility that I strive towards, playing with everyone from Anthony Braxton to Béla Fleck. Now He Sings, Now He Sobs blew everything open for me. His harmonic vocabulary from the early 70s (in duo with Gary Burton, with Stan Getz or the first edition of RTF) is so ingrained in my own compositional voice.

 

Here's an interview I did with him back in 2012 (please ignore the banal "what's on your iPod" question, the editor made me ask that):

[video:youtube]

My Site

Nord Electro 5D, Novation Launchkey 61, Logic Pro X, Mainstage 3, lots of plugins, fingers, pencil, paper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just Totally Devastated :(:cry: !

I can't begin to fathom how I would have played, or thought about music, had there never been a Chick and his music. Me along with how many other tens of thousands from my generation, generations before, after and without a doubt, future generations after I'm long gone. If you were an aspiring Jazz player, on ANY instrument, or even a musician with Jazz interests, it would literally be impossible NOT to be influenced by him or his music in some way, shape or form.

 

An incredibly sad day.

 

I couldn't say it any better, thanks Dave. And he continued to grow and inspire year after year.... watching his "practice sessions' this last year was a big part of helping me to get through the pandemic. I couldn't even begin to express my feelings yesterday...

 

Jerry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the absolutely greatest...

 

Was thinking a while ago since Chick and Herbie were near 80...how much longer will they be around....

 

Still can't believe this is true...

 

Heard Light As A Feather already as a kid as my dad played stuff like this all the time....so he is forever in my musical DNA

 

Chick Corea has returned to forever

 

Thank you for all the incredible music Maestro!

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course what makes this a gut punch is that for many older jazz pianists, we're losing the giants that informed our own development; the ones that we feel a deep connection to. As a kid starting out playing jazz I read about and listened to guys like Earl Hines, Tatum and Teddy Wilson â but I was not particularly interested in being able to play in their styles. Of course I was into Bud Powell, and worked on playing bebop, but my first big influence was McCoy, then Herbie & Chick (of course Bill Evans too, though I'm appreciating him more now). Those were the ones for me. Someone here mentioned Beato's video tribute, that's a good one. He played some of the Three Quartets record, I forgot how killing that one was. Of course Now He Sings/Sobs was a huge influence. Tones For Joan's Bones, Litha, and Windows are tunes I've been playing my whole working life. Every few weeks I go to Youtube and listen to "Tumba" from the 1992 Tokyo BlueNote video with Pattitucci and Vinnie - just ferocious. Thanks for the music Chick.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I couldn't gather myself the last few days, but today I just sat down and had to express my feelings on FB. I've never been accused of being pithy, so warning: long post ahead!

 

I"ve been trying to gather my thoughts about Chick Corea⦠sure, I could list the many shows I"ve been to, my over 50 recordings I have (not counting sideman settings), and post my only photo with him. But instead I just want to celebrate his career, and all that his music taught and inspired me. This is in chronological order, not in the order of my discovery of him.

 

Earliest Chick recordings showed me a modern post-bop pianist, with fire in his belly, and a modern twist to the post-bop vocabulary. Already, Chick the composer is being seen: 'Tones For Jones Bones', 'Litha' and 'Windows' all came from this early time and are established jazz standards. Yet on a recording like Stan Getz"s Sweet Rain he showed a more lyrical, romantic side ('Windows' was first recorded on this album). And we already are hearing him taking the modal concepts and quartal voicings from McCoy Tyner and advancing them to become the bedrock of modern jazz piano vocabulary.

This became apparent with the legendary Now He Sings, Now He Sobs trio recording. We all still listen to it and learn from it. Such rapport, it"s the aesthetic of the classic Bill Evans trio (LaFaro, Motian) brought forward with more modern language and sensibilities.

 

Chick"s time with Miles Davis was crucial to the fomenting of the freer, more ensemble improvisation and exploration of electronics and rock elements that became the 'fusion' movement. For me, it was this period that really showed what a great 'reacter' Chick was. He could always adapt to what was going on and add the perfect element: his great ears, strong rhythmic concept and empathy towards the other players always helped to serve the moment. From Miles Chick explored even more out and freer music, moving far afield from the post-bop and constructs of the past. His time with Circle is not music that I explored a lot â it remains a bit too free and fragmented for my tastes. The trio album A.R.C. is also noteworthy from this time. I haven"t lived with these recording enough to comment much more.

 

Perhaps the first indicator of how versatile and nimble Chick was as an artist came next, as he turned away from the free music to start to play more accessible music, both harmonically and melodically. I know that Chick"s involvement with Scientology is controversial, but it seems that his introduction to it is responsible for this change in direction, and I think we all can agree that we"re glad for the effect, if not the source. Think of the recordings that quickly ensued: Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 and 2, Crystal Silence (w/Gary Burton), Return To Forever and then Light As A Feather. Perhaps I"m biased because of my age/era, but these are all watershed recordings, and while they were made in the spirit of reaching out to more people, they are not watered-down or crass attempts at commercialism. These are iconic recordings that stand the test of time. A few thoughts on them:

 

Crystal Silence was the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship between Chick and Gary. As the story goes, they found themselves the only two players at a late night jam session at a Munich jazz festival, so they just played some tunes as a duo. The rapport was obvious and ECM founder/producer Manfred Eicher brought them into the studio to record. As I listen to the album again this morning I know every note, every moment; it was that influential for me over the years. They played like one mind, with multiple limbs and instruments. They could spin out overlapped waves of notes that never clashed, and they perfectly complimented each other. They"ve gone on to record many albums and every one is highly recommended.

 

The first Return To Forever band â what more could I add to the impact of this music? For musicians of my era every tune became something we learned to play, and many remain in the vocabulary of us all. For so many of us, these are the recordings where the Fender Rhodes came to be THE instrument after acoustic piano to play. Chick use of electronics with Miles was harsher, and shaped by the roiling music they made. But here the Rhodes was heard more clearly, and it"s bell-like tone was simply beautiful. Chick had developed a vocabulary for the instrument, sometimes soft and pretty, other times he dug in harder and you hear the amp/speaker break up tastefully. He worked the volume knob, he created small roaring glisses: he made the instrument his own. And we all learned from him, and mimicked him. His comping on Rhodes was even more rhythmic (or it sounded so) and once again he re-shaped the musical landscape for jazz and jazz-rock music, while bringing his latin roots to the fore.

 

And then? Return To Forever changed direction and became the jazz-rock/fusion quartet. BAM! Chick once again rode the waves of the music world around him, followed his muse and made it all his own. This is actually when I first heard him and this band was a chart-topping, concert-sellout bona-fide hit. But the music was deep, and it showed how well Chick would write music designed for the people in his band, a trait that you"d see throughout his career, not unlike Duke Ellington, who wrote for the musical personalities in his band. He embraced synthesizers and other electronic keyboards (clavinet, Yamaha combo organ) and each record got more ambitious in the writing and arranging. I"ll admit that I"m not a fan of the larger ensemble that he created after the break-up of the quartet. A bit too slick and arranged for me, but full of top-flight players.

 

The success of that band afforded Chick the ability to have a solo recording contract and the money to do some serious production work, and the next string of albums were both adventurous and yet still with an eye of some commercial success. The Leprechaun? Wow⦠How many of us played, or tried to play Nite Sprite in our bands? My Spanish Heart was a huge success and melded his jazz, electronics and fusion elements with an embrace of his Spanish roots. One tune stands out: 'Armando"s Rhumba'. We all play it. But don"t forget 'Love Castle'⦠Chick the composer continues to create the standards for our generation. The Mad Hatter had incredible string writing, and I still am trying to make 'Humpty Dumpty' a part of my performance repertoire. Some nights I succeed, others, I am reminded of the challenge and example that Chick set for us all.

 

By this time Chick was super-humanly prolific as an artist. In 1978 alone he recorded and released The Mad Hatter, Secret Agent, Friends, and was in the middle of his dual piano tour with Herbie Hancock. Who else was doing this? And continued this level of activity and versatility right up until the pandemic hit some 40+ years later? I have to call out Friends as another recording that 'spoke' to me and that I still listen to often, and play tunes from.

 

I can"t keep up this timeline (well I could, but who wants to read so much?). Some other highlights for me over the ensuing years include The Three Quartets album â such wonderful writing, and a band for the ages: Brecker, Gomez and Gadd. No first names needed. I saw them in concert at Montclair State College and it was wonderful. I read that they didn"t do many dates, so it was a special night for sure. Trio Music and Trio Music Live gave us a return of the classic trio with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes. 1986-1992 gave us the Elektric Band, a virtuosic ensemble that kicked the jazz-rock movement back into high gear. Here Chick explored synthesizers, MIDI and his most adventurous keyboard arranging and textures of his career. And talk about writing tunes with the players in mind? And then in a move that might have been calculated to take their fans by the hand back to jazz he created the Acoustic Band with his rhythm section (John Patitucci and Dave Weckl). But it was a highly aggressive and amped-up jazz they played, as is no surprise.

 

Ever-exploring, Chick revisited his bop roots with the Remembering Bud Powell project â the tune 'Bud Powell' is a constant companion on my jazz dates, rare as they are. The Origin Band showed such great writing and arranging, and everyone in the band shone. My copy of the Live At The Blue Note box set was borrowed from Mark Vail on a visit to Keyboard Magazine"s offices, and I refuse to return it, still, after all these years. Sorry Mark!!

 

And suddenly it"s 2003 and Chick gathers many of friends for the first birthday celebration at the NY Blue Note. Check out Rendezvous In New York to see just how varied Chick"s musical career had been. And he was far from finished. What it must have taken to put that together, and for Chick to keep up on all that music? Remember, for each setting the musicians had their set to learn. Chick had to do it all! Over the next years there were duets (Hiromi, Bela Fleck), solo piano, new band projects (The Five Peace Band!), the long-awaited reunion of Return To Forever, and a wonderful trio project in remembrance of and inspired by Bill Evans â Further Explorations, which I saw in NYC. The Trilogy Trios showed Chick still at the top of his game in his 70"s, and his 70th birthday celebration at the Blue Note (captured as The Musician) continued to show how much music he had in him, and how he had become the linchpin of so much of the music of the latter-day 20th and now 21st centuries.

 

Once again I want to remember Chick"s wonderful harmonic sensibility, his crisp articulation and touch on the piano, his comping and dialog with the bands as a member of the rhythm section, his writing, his willingness, no make that drive to keep creating new music and putting himself into new situations, his sheer joy of playing. The pandemic came and he pivoted and started sharing his 'practice sessions' and then moved into teaching. He needed to play and to communicate. What an example he set for us all. I"ll end this (is anyone still here with me?) with his farewell words. As usual they are profound yet simple â a life lesson I will strive to follow. Godspeed and thank you, Chick â I am forever grateful to have shared this time with you. Jerry Kovarsky 2/13/2021

 

'I want to thank all of those along my journey who have helped keep the music fires burning bright. It is my hope that those who have an inkling to play, write, perform or otherwise, do so. If not for yourself then for the rest of us. It"s not only that the world needs more artists, it"s also just a lot of fun.'

'And to my amazing musician friends who have been like family to me as long as I"ve known you: It has been a blessing and an honor learning from and playing with all of you. My mission has always been to bring the joy of creating anywhere I could, and to have done so with all the artists that I admire so dearlyâthis has been the richness of my life.' â Chick Corea 1941 - 2021

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jerry, that was an incredibly thorough and detailed overview. Really excellent ! It certainly deserves to be published in a newspaper or Music publication. I think you've done that type of thing before. :);)

 

Sad to be saying this here, but if only there was a magazine aimed at keyboardists, for and about keyboardists. If Keyboard was still around, no doubt I could have pitched, or would have been assigned to do just that, as I got to do for Keith Emerson and George Duke. But this will have to suffice. Thanks for the kind words.

 

Jerry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly the situation for me. Thanks for articulating it.

 

Of course what makes this a gut punch is that for many older jazz pianists, we're losing the giants that informed our own development; the ones that we feel a deep connection to. As a kid starting out playing jazz I read about and listened to guys like Earl Hines, Tatum and Teddy Wilson â but I was not particularly interested in being able to play in their styles. Of course I was into Bud Powell, and worked on playing bebop, but my first big influence was McCoy, then Herbie & Chick (of course Bill Evans too, though I'm appreciating him more now). Those were the ones for me. Someone here mentioned Beato's video tribute, that's a good one. He played some of the Three Quartets record, I forgot how killing that one was. Of course Now He Sings/Sobs was a huge influence. Tones For Joan's Bones, Litha, and Windows are tunes I've been playing my whole working life. Every few weeks I go to Youtube and listen to "Tumba" from the 1992 Tokyo BlueNote video with Pattitucci and Vinnie - just ferocious. Thanks for the music Chick.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly the situation for me. Thanks for articulating it.

 

....

 

Jerry, you were far more articulate in your wonderful post. You really summed things up. In all the online tributes and obituaries I've read, yours is the first mention of Chick's work with Circle. I went through a brief period immersing myself in the avant-garde and had all those albums - A.R.C., Song Of Singing, plus the reissued stuff on BlueNote. Chick covered pretty much every base there was to cover in jazz of the later 20th (and early 21st) century; just an amazing body of work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wrote about a bunch of my favorite Chick albums in my post on the other page, but in the meanwhile to try to cope with this, I've been trying (emphasis on trying) to learn Chick's solos from the Friends (1978) album. I've got the Sher Publishing book with the red cover.

 

Dear GOD that is still some difficult and just...overall mind-blowing stuff. Even the themes are sometimes insanely difficult. Superheros Gomez & Gadd on here as well.

 

Like, "Samba Song":

[video:youtube]

 

Or "Cappucino":

[video:youtube]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a collaboration in 1985 when arguably they were both in their Prime. I remember when they did this. There was supposed to be a date with the LA Phil at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion but I heard through the grapevine that politics intervened between the newly appointed Conductor Andre Previn, who as most know was a Huge Jazz fan and a Great Jazz pianist and composer in his own right, and the still stodgy management that didn't want Jazz guys playing Mozart there.

 

Dave, I remember thinking how much guts this had to take facing the classical critics. Not to mention Keith's Clavier stuff.

In the Post Bop eras up until, say, 1980's were any of the Jazz Piano Masters that I would know be capable of doing something like Keith and Chick with this? I'm guessing there were, but I'm not well versed enough to say who. They are rare guys who could legitimately cross between Jazz and classical on the same instrument at the same time.

J a z z  P i a n o 8 8

--

Yamaha C7D

Montage8 | CP300 | CP4 | SK1-73 | OB6 | Seven

K8.2 | 3300 | CPSv.3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a collaboration in 1985 when arguably they were both in their Prime. I remember when they did this. There was supposed to be a date with the LA Phil at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion but I heard through the grapevine that politics intervened between the newly appointed Conductor Andre Previn, who as most know was a Huge Jazz fan and a Great Jazz pianist and composer in his own right, and the still stodgy management that didn't want Jazz guys playing Mozart there.

 

Dave, I remember thinking how much guts this had to take facing the classical critics. Not to mention Keith's Clavier stuff.

In the Post Bop eras up until, say, 1980's were any of the Jazz Piano Masters that I would know be capable of doing something like Keith and Chick with this? I'm guessing there were, but I'm not well versed enough to say who. They are rare guys who could legitimately cross between Jazz and classical on the same instrument at the same time.

 

Herbie went to college on a classical scholarship and per the tribute tonight said he and Chick were getting ready to do some gigs playing Mozart. Keith was criticized my the classical community wasn't traditional enough for them, but like any good Jazz musician didn't give a crap what they thought. Bill Evans (and his brother) had an extensive classical background but switched. I would say many probably could play the classical repertoire but decided to leave it behind in order to play music they could express themselves in. Even from a classical viewpoint I remember a interview with Yuja Wang and when asked about having to prepare so many different pieces over the season. She said most concerts they want the same stuff year after year and its all things she's been playing since she was ten so she know inside out. She said only a few concerts a year she gets to learn pieces outside the norm. She said she likes the challenge when getting to do different music. I have a gut feeling at some point Yuja Wang is going to start crossing over from the classical world so she can express herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bassist Christian McBride hosted a Zoom tribute...what a lovely guy!! Thank you so much Mr McBride!!!

 

As fellow bassist Darryl Jones said: "All the cats"

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/100044484874193/posts/265521558274005/?d=n

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just remembered a story I once read somewhere, probably in a magazine. It was some heavy-hitter jazz player talking about Chick. I want to say it was Michael Brecker, but I wouldn't swear to it. Anyway, the two of them were coming out of a recording session, and Chick was getting on the elevator. Brecker (or whoever it was) said he enviously asked Chick, "Have you ever had a bad day musically?" Chick's simple answer: "No." And then the elevator door closed.

 

For a lot of musicians an answer like that could come across as arrogant or bragging. But it's easy to picture Chick saying it and having it be simply the most honest and direct answer he could give. And it offers an insightful look into his mindset. With the way he approached music, I find that answer totally believable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bernie Kirsh Chick's longtime engineer was talking with a musician that both Chick and Bernie helped early in his career. The musician was shaken by Chick's passing wondering how to deal with it. Bernie said.... If Chick was here he'd tell you to be creative that is the antidote.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bernie Kirsh Chick's longtime engineer was talking with a musician that both Chick and Bernie helped early in his career. The musician was shaken by Chick's passing wondering how to deal with it. Bernie said.... If Chick was here he'd tell you to be creative that is the antidote.

 

What a wonderful sentiment, and one we all should follow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good article about Chick.......

 

Link to article about Chick....

 

Wow, really good article. I'm glad it addresses something a lot of people have avoided mentioning, including me: it's okay not to like everything he ever wrote or recorded. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with his music, and the latter may even outweigh the former. Between the synth cheese, the overindulgent solo flights, and the '70s tracks that literally sound like they came directly from a Sesame Street clip about why sharing is good, there's plenty to dislike. But that lack of inhibition, that willingness to swing for the fence every time no matter the context, is what allowed for the great stuff to be as great as it was. I've said the same thing for years about Stevie Wonder. (Speaking of whom, he damn sure better be bubble-wrapped by this point.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...