Chick Corea

About Chick Corea

Chick Coreas is one of the most versatile pianists of our time. On piano and on keyboard his musical life encompasses a journey from Jazz, Free Jazz and Fusion to classical music and back. Collaborations, style-forming projects and new musical frontiers with legendary musicians like Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, Dave Weckl or the London Philharmonic Orchestra show his versatility. His compositions from Classic to Jazz Rock gave Chick Corea his status as one of the most influential musicians and composers of the second half of the twentieth century.
Born in 1941 as Armando Anthony Corea on the US east coast, the road was paved when Corea was a four year old boy and decided he wanted to play the piano. His influences came from composers such as Beethoven and Mozart, but also from Jazz musicians.
In the 60s Chick Corea studied in New York at the renowned Juilliard School and the Columbia University, where he also played in a number of Latin-Jazz bands. After some time as a pianist on tour with other musicians, he released his first two solo albums in 1966 and 1968, which established him as a Jazz musician.
1968 he joined the band of Jazz icon Miles Davis, where he replaced Herbie Hancock and went on to play on the legendary Bitches Brew. When Corea formed the band Return To Forever at the start of the 70s, he laid the foundations for a very successful fusion jazz career, which started with latin influences and evolved to a hard rocking Jazz Rock combo.
In the 80s, after a series of concerts with Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea embarked on a lot of successful collaborations with different artists from different musical styles. Until today the creativity and productivity of the exceptional pianist never declined. Numerous co-operations with other artists came before two truly impressive concerts. Chick Corea collaborated with singer Bobby McFerrin and the Saint Paul Chamber orchestra to play Mozart arrangements and played with the London Philharmonic orchestra the Corea Concerto, a collection of his own compositions which capture the essence of his style: a strong classical influence paired with the passion for Jazz.
A sophisticated and precise articulation on the piano is Chick Coreas trademark. But he has no fear of using other parts of the piano than the keys alone. In concerts and recordings you can often hear him plucking strings and playing a prepared piano.
The strong independence of his hands allow him to spice up his pieces with poly-rhythmic effects, rhythmical contra-points and brilliant bass lines.
Every piece of his music shows the scope of the influences that shape his very own style. Be it Bebop, Rock, Jazz, Spanish or Cuban – only a few musicians since the Fifties were more versatile or more influential than Chick Corea. The pianist, composer and band leader has not only won seventeen Grammys, but with this work he has also been highly influential in Jazz and beyond.
His influence on a lot of styles can not be measured enough. His groundbreaking work which founded the Fusion genre is still noticeable in many musicians. His melodic playing and composing style rehabilitated Jazz, whose mainstream audience was dazed by the experiments of Free Jazz.
Chick Corea was also one of the pioneers of electronic instruments in Jazz. Synthesizers and the mixture of Jazz, Rock and electronic instruments became commonplace in Jazz. The Introduction of these novelties triggered the rise of Jazz from small clubs to arenas. Chick Corea was a leading figure of this rise, his band Return To Forever is one of the most successful Fusion bands of all time.