Rip Chick Corea

[rue the polywhirl]

With great sadness jazz pianist dude Chick Corea passes away at the age of 79. Let's not lump him in the jazz thread, especially when Black Country New Roads have their own dedicated thread right now. Discuss the fantastical life, times and works of Chick Corea.

[darby o chill]

[split thread]

[NoSleep]

Rick Beato's tribute video for this thread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LHuv0I-qbA

[Johnny Yesno]

Corea ending moment

[Twit 2]

Dead Cordeada

[famethrowa]

more like North Corea

[rue the polywhirl]

Corea ending moment

Possibly not. He's a Scientologist so maybe his thetans are already off elsewhere starting on new project and he has a load of current new teaching materials in book and online that will keep him in good stead.

[Petey Pate]

Possibly not. He's a Scientologist so maybe his thetans are already off elsewhere starting on new project and he has a load of current new teaching materials in book and online that will keep him in good stead.

I hadn't realised that he'd been so productive in the past year. Here's an interview from only a few months ago where he talks about making music in lockdown.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/story/2021-02-11/chick-corea-dead-at-79-revisit-out-in-depth-september-interview-with-the-jaz-and-beyond-giant

Despite the Scientology reference ('joy of creating' is an L. Ron Hubbardism) - I do like and agree with the sentiment of his final message shared on Facebook.

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 I admire so dearly—this has been the richness of my life.

[purlieu]

His solo piano improvisations from the '70s are stunning, as is Children's Songs. A great loss. RIP.

[Colin Sanction]

Ta'ra Chick

[Petey Pate]

Here's a wonderful performance of Armando's Rhumba by Chick and Gary Burton both on the same vibraphone and having a lot of fun together.

https://youtu.be/VRSjLkj0VMw

[Dusty Substance]

To my knowledge, the only Chick Corea I have in my record collection is his appearance on L. Ron Hubbard's Space Jazz/Battlefield Earth album.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Space_Jazz

I'm sure Chick Corea's a fine artist but it's the worst album I have ever heard.

[Ptolemy Ptarmigan]

On Whistle Test he had to think on his feet a bit when the notoriously temperamental Minimoog started playing up during Sorceress and he had to fall back on an ARP and Fender Rhodes I think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSksWyHsYw8

[Petey Pate]

To my knowledge, the only Chick Corea I have in my record collection is his appearance on L. Ron Hubbard's Space Jazz/Battlefield Earth album.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Space_Jazz

I'm sure Chick Corea's a fine artist but it's the worst album I have ever heard.

There's a Scientology record that's even worse than that, made after L. Ron Hubbard's death, also featuring Chick on one track.



According to Al Di Meolo, Scientology was also a large part of why the 'classic' line up of Return to Forever fell apart when really they could have continued to greater success. When they briefly reformed in 2008, every aspect of the tour was supposedly controlled by the church.

[Ptolemy Ptarmigan]

According to Al Di Meolo, Scientology was also a large part of why the 'classic' line up of Return to Forever fell apart when really they could have continued to greater success. When they briefly reformed in 2008, every aspect of the tour was supposedly controlled by the church.

I know Corea got frustrated with his lack of rehearsal and once called him the Aldi Meola, but he didn't notice.

But seriously... I'd heard about Corea trying to get band members into it, but nothing about Scientology actually controlling the tour. Weird.

[NoSleep]

Bill Connors, the Return To Forever guitarist before Al Di Meola, left because of controlling weirdness from Corea, too[nb]

Connor's disenchantment with the group also stemmed from certain objections to Corea's Scientology-inspired leadership style. "Chick had a lot of ideas that were part of his involvement with Scientology. He got more demanding, and I wasn't allowed to control my own solos. I had no power in the music at all. Then, we'd receive written forms about what clothes we could wear, and graphic charts where we had to rate ourselves every night – not by our standards, but his. Finally, we had to connect dots on a chart every night. I took all of it seriously because I had a lot of respect for Chick, but eventually I just felt screwed around. In the end, my only power was to quit."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Connors#Return_to_Forever[/nb]. That first "electric" RTF album, with Connors, is still my fave from the band.

[Retinend]

On Whistle Test he had to think on his feet a bit when the notoriously temperamental Minimoog started playing up during Sorceress and he had to fall back on an ARP and Fender Rhodes I think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSksWyHsYw8

Loved this, thanks.

Did Chick Corea ever go into the reasons behind the juxtaposition of jazz fusion and chivalric imagery in the lyrics and album art?

[NoSleep]

Another recollection from the drummer John Stevens:

Before Chick Corea formed Return To Forever, he was playing with Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul. I'd played with Dave in my group earlier, and they all came down to the Little Theatre Club. Chick had a play and we had a nice time. A year later, Chick was in town again. So I went down to Ronnie Scott's, and saw him in the foyer. I said, 'Chick, how are you doing?' and he went, 'Oh, John, let's go for a walk.' So we walked down the road and he said, 'What are you doing then, John?' I said, 'Well, I'm doing what I always do – Spontaneous Music Ensemble, work in youth clubs, blah blah blah.' And he said to me, 'Look, John, with all your skill, why aren't you, like, out there projecting it? Because I'm out there and we're reaching the people and they feel like dancing ...' and all of this stuff. And I went, 'Well, Chick, that's not really what I do, or what I'm about.' Anyway, we carried on walking and he kept stressing this point: 'Get out there with us. Join us. You can do it, I know you can do it.' So this goes on and on, and we're walking back towards Ronnie's, and I said, 'Chick, why do you think I came out to see you this evening?' And he said, 'To borrow money?' And I went, 'Chick, for Christ's sake, I came to see if you wanted to have a play while you're here.'

The book I found that quote in (Ben Watson's Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation) says that Corea joined the CoS in 1971, and it's an interesting cutoff point to his career. As brilliant as what he did since then has been (and I never stopped being a fan) there's something uncompromisingly brilliant about his earlier work, probably best exemplified by his two albums "Is" and Sundance which were compiled as The Complete "Is" Sessions with bonus material.

The actual track "Sundance" (credited to Corea) can also be heard (in proto form) within Miles Davis' performance at the Isle Of Wight, albeit credited to Miles Davis and not titled as such, Corea and Dave Holland (who teamed up with Corea post-Miles) kind of weave it into the set, perhaps for their own amusement.

[Petey Pate]

New Herbie Hancock interview where he talks about Chick.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/herbie-hancock-interview-chick-corea-1128481/

[Petey Pate]

CaB Radio is currently doing a Chick Corea tribute night. Listening links here:

http://s1.myradiostream.com:34552/listen.pls   
http://s1.myradiostream.com:34552/listen.m3u
http://s1.myradiostream.com:34552/listen.mp3

And you can enter the chatroom here: https://chat.mibbit.com/?channel=%23cabradio&server=irc.mibbit.net

Chatroom info if you have an IRC client:

Server: irc.mibbit.net
Port: 6667
Room: #cabradio

[NoSleep]

Join us (this is not the CoS).

CaB Radio is currently doing a Chick Corea tribute night. Listening links here:

http://s1.myradiostream.com:34552/listen.pls   
http://s1.myradiostream.com:34552/listen.m3u
http://s1.myradiostream.com:34552/listen.mp3

And you can enter the chatroom here: https://chat.mibbit.com/?channel=%23cabradio&server=irc.mibbit.net

Chatroom info if you have an IRC client:

Server: irc.mibbit.net
Port: 6667
Room: #cabradio