Grammys 2004

[marino]

Originally posted by meccajay:

I don't think it's a Jazzmen can't rock thing.. Remember the Jazz-Fusionera? 'School Days' album anyone?

 

I don't think it was even a Chick can't rock thing... I remember Chick being on the cutting edge of the Jazz-fusion era.

 

I think it's just Chick playing one too many solo concert piano gigs, and forgetting a lot of his youth. Namely the ability to adapt.

Chick does strange things sometimes... I believe he's just music hungry, so he takes every new challenge and once in a while he stumbles on something he can't handle. But I highly respect his will to stay adventurous and to take chances.

I did not see the Grammy concert (probably pieces of it will be broadcasted in Italy in the next few days), but I can offer a somewhat unique perspective: His collaborations with Italian pop singers.

First came Pino Daniele, quite a few years ago. Daniele is a great pop/fusion singer/composer, although in the last few years, his music has been massively watered down. Anyway, Pino Daniele took two of Chick's songs, "Sicily" and "Cappuccino", called Chick himself to help with the arrangement, and it came out very good.

More recently, he played on a CD by Celentano, one of the worst, reactionary, corny, disgusting, lobotomized "melodic" singer - really, one of the reason why a good musician can be ashamed to be Italian. (Not joking, guys! )

When I read this news, I thought it was a misprint, or some publicity hoax. But it was true! Chick played simple comping on some appallingly simplistic chord progressions, and a couple of very fluid solos on those same progressions (as fading codas to a couple of songs). My immediate thoughts were, first, why CHICK COREA played on such horrendous songs, and second, it doesn't take CHICK COREA to do those parts - even the solos. It was, evidently, an attempt on the part of the label to "nobilitate" that record, on paper at least... But why has Chick done it? Money maybe, or more probably, the desire to try "even that", to try his hands at that type of thing. After all, he played with Cat Stevens in his youth...

I would tend to forgive Chick for trying one thing too much. Maybe he was just feeling not right, or wasn't given the time to learn the song, or maybe he just couldn't hear the other musicians properly. He's too great a musician, and if the Grammy show has really been a disaster, I'm sure he's the first to feel bad.

[songrytr]

Originally posted by DKeenum:

I was actually somewhat impressed by Justin Timberlake's playing a Rhodes.

Took me by surprise as well. What was really cool was the Rhodes itself - the nameplate still had Fender on it. What year did they drop that anyway?

[guestuserguestuser.com]

Originally posted by Rabid:

Yes, but still, he was told that he could not appear on the show unless he apologized for the incident. Do you think the intention was for him to get up there and say "I did it. I ment to do it. I'm happy I did it because it brought me a lot of attention. But now I am sorry because CBS told me that I am sorry."

 

All I am saying is that for a legal and corporate standpoint, he said just what he had to say.

 

Robert

I'm just saying is that if he's going to apologize, then he should truly apolgize, and not speak out of both sides of his mouth, which is what he did.

 

What he said was not a real apology. I'm paraphrasing, but I think it's pretty close to what he said:

 

"It was unintentional, and I'm sorry if any of y'all were offended by it".

 

In other words, "I'm not really responsible for it, and it's too bad if you were offended by it"

 

That's not an apology, that's double-speak. Not that I really care. The only thing that bugs me is that it obviously WAS intentional, and he obviously knew what was going to happen, and he doesn't sound like he's the least bit sorry, so it irks me for him to say "it was unintentional", and nobody calls him on it. And that what he said gets called an 'apology'.

 

Whether it's him saying it, or whether he's CBS's mouthpiece, it's still a load of double-speak.

[RABid]

Does anyone know what that was sitting on top of Chick Corea's grand piano? Not a keyboard. Reminded me of a big VCR, or maybe something like the KDFX.

 

Robert

[eric]

Does anyone know what that was sitting on top of Chick Corea's grand piano? Not a keyboard. Reminded me of a big VCR, or maybe something like the KDFX.

That was a Motif Rack that was apparently controlled by the grand piano. I saw him adjusting sound & volume at least once. I wonder if that was MIDI Grand or if it had Moog's new Piano Bar?

 

Regards,

Eric

[schmoron13]

I remember talking to my jazz piano teacher in college (back around 2000) about Mad Hatter Studio (Corea's Place), and my teacher noted that Corea had a piano outfitted for midi. This was before the Moog piano bar....fyi

[mate stubb]

Originally posted by meccajay:

I don't think it was even a Chick can't rock thing... I remember Chick being on the cutting edge of the Jazz-fusion era.

Well, my view is that Chick CAN'T rock. Even on his finest fusion album (Romantic Warrior), his synth lines and cheezy vibrato always made me cringe. The finest cut on that album is the one where everyone plays acoustic. YMMV of course.

[meccajay]

Originally posted by mate_stubb:

Originally posted by meccajay:

I don't think it was even a Chick can't rock thing... I remember Chick being on the cutting edge of the Jazz-fusion era.

Well, my view is that Chick CAN'T rock. Even on his finest fusion album (Romantic Warrior), his synth lines and cheezy vibrato always made me cringe. The finest cut on that album is the one where everyone plays acoustic. YMMV of course.

While I'll buy that he's no Jan Hammer or George Duke when it comes to balls out fusion, I doubt that his RTF playing is cringe inducing to many.

 

Yes, agreed it was a light(as a feather:-)) style but remember, he played in a band with Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, DiMeola and the like, and more than held his own.

I'd say he could probably hold his own with the uhh, Foo Fighters, if his head or heart was really in it.

[mate stubb]

Originally posted by meccajay:

While I'll buy that he's no Jan Hammer or George Duke when it comes to balls out fusion, I doubt that his RTF playing is cringe inducing to many.

 

Yes, agreed it was a light(as a feather:-)) style but remember, he played in a band with Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, DiMeola and the like, and more than held his own.

There was no lack of talent or skill implied in my post, just a kind of er, "whitebreadedness". To rock IMHO, you need to play "heavy" which has a kind of "lay behind the beat" quality to it. Hammer and Zawinul have it, but Chick doesn't.

 

It was his synth tones and wide vibrato that made me cringe, not his playing.

[Steve LeBlanc]

I'm not sure Chick ever did rock too hard but whatever ever rock vibe he had is obviously long gone. Maybe that crazy cult he belongs to sucked it out of him.

[meccajay]

Originally posted by mate_stubb:

Originally posted by meccajay:

While I'll buy that he's no Jan Hammer or George Duke when it comes to balls out fusion, I doubt that his RTF playing is cringe inducing to many.

 

Yes, agreed it was a light(as a feather:-)) style but remember, he played in a band with Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, DiMeola and the like, and more than held his own.

There was no lack of talent or skill implied in my post, just a kind of er, "whitebreadedness". To rock IMHO, you need to play "heavy" which has a kind of "lay behind the beat" quality to it. Hammer and Zawinul have it, but Chick doesn't.

 

It was his synth tones and wide vibrato that made me cringe, not his playing.

Okay gotcha! You may indeed be right, I need to go home and pull out some of this old stuff.