I learned Spain on the bass in the hopes that one day I could play my meager rendition for him. In a concert at SFJazz he picked people out of the audience to paint their portraits with his piano. How lucky was I to be placed upon such a seat where Chick dismembered me with his eyes, eviscerating my soul upon a platter. He stared at me with the eyes of a musician who had searched heaven and hell for the most tempestuous chordal mixtures. The two minutes I spent in that seat where he painted my portrait with his keystrokes are some of the most treasured moments of my life. I felt like I had been seen, chewed up, devoured, and reincarnated as the everloving Chick Corea sycophant I had always known myself to be.
The man was a goddamn monster on the boards and we are all at a loss with his passing. Rest in Power Chick, you're in my heart forever.
My first exposure to Chick was also through Spain, playing bass in high school. My friend and I decided we wanted to start a jazz band and found some charts for Spain, however it was a watered down arrangement with the rhythms...let's just say not as interesting as the original. Imagine my surprise when I finally heard the original recording. That is where I trace the beginning of my love for jazz and 30+ years later, he is still my biggest musical influence. I count my blessings I was able to see him perform many times in many different settings.
Thanks for the story. Sorry, I know nothing about music, how do you paint someone's portrait with a piano? He was able to create a music based on a person?
Chick asked me to sit in a chair a couple feet away from his piano. He stared at me with the a look that seemed to say "whatever you've got, I'll work with it." If I had to imagine how I looked back at him in that moment it would've been the simulacrum of wanderlust and kummerspeck (German for grief bacon). It felt like I was being channeled by a ghost and the chords matched my facade like icing on a cake.
Chick played the piano, all I could do was sit there and listen.
It's certainly not a common word in German. In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen it, and all google search results are either dictionary entries or English articles that can be attributed to the Anglosphere's obsession with German compound words.
I love how I just automatically accept the German cookie banner without reading it (but understanding exactly what it says). Modern internet ist scheisse.
Northern germany also knows it. Maybe it has something to do with age. It's usage has declined over the years, I think. Maybe because it belittles the underlying issue, as it sounds rather "cute" to a native speaker. Just an educated guess, though.
I would not call it a common word. But every native speaker who reads more than Facebook status updates should have met it. Being an obvious compound of 2 words really everybody knows it does not require any real learning effort, the first time you see it you understand it intuitively.
The other week I similarly saw a conversation about calendar optimization to not look like Swiss cheese turn towards discussing the process of making Greek yogurt.
It still didn't make sense to me so I googled it and found,
"Kummerspeck is the name for excess fat gained by emotional eating – specifically, the excessive eating people do in times of stress or sorrow."
So it literally refers to the _fat_ (speck) someone gains by eating while feeling _grief or sorrow_ (kummer). Except that the specific word for fat they use is the word for _animal fat_ and in some instances literally means bacon. What an interesting word.
True. As a native speaker I know the word, but the sentence makes little sense to me.
One could gain Kummerspeck (over weeks, months or years), but one could not be looking like Kummerspeck or sitting there like Kummerspeck. Unless in English the word has been loaned and the meaning shifted over time as it sometimes happens with loan words.
Man, just coming back to this thread. Thank you for saying this. To add a slight bit more color, I didn’t think of myself as fat and depressed in that moment, more that I had been feeling gorged on the emotions of life and had metaphorically eaten my sorrows.
To me, kummerspeck is the feeling of being unable to distinguish between the tears running down your face or the grease on your chin. It’s a feeling of relishing in the grief of burying someone who would want you to eat a ton of bacon at their funeral to celebrate their life.
Emotions are rarely simple or easy to explain. It’s still worth the effort to try though.
Both wander and lust are also English words, albeit with slightly different shades of meaning, so it should be comprehensible to a non-German speaker who has never encountered it before, whereas Kummerspeck would not be.
To another German it's amusing that the individual words exist in German and English, but don't quite mean the same things in each language, i.e. are not really translations of each other.
> Chick asked me to sit in a chair a couple feet away from his piano. He stared at me with the a look that seemed to say "whatever you've got, I'll work with it." If I had to imagine how I looked back at him in that moment it would've been the simulacrum of a mathematical model of computation that defines an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. It felt like I was being imitated, state by state, symbol by symbol, my inner-most thoughts understood but unspoken as my utterances were scribbled onto the infinite tape.
> I was also a newly married man who had gained some weight.
> As Chick tickled the ivories, he whispered, "I shall call the song of your life 'The Imitation Game'."
> A moment later, he whispered my name. I do not recall me telling him my name.
> "I wrote this for you, Benedict Kummerspeck," whispered Chick.
If anybody is looking for something new to listen too, he made an album with John McLaughlin and 3 other jazz gods called Five Peace Band. One of my favorite albums of all time.
A "thousand-yard stare" would be devoid of life and emotion. What josh2600 is describing seems to be the opposite of that, a stare full of life, questions and answers.
The night I turned 18 I was drinking with Chick Corea.
It happened that in 1995 he had a classical music project involving some local orchestra musicians in Modena, Italy, where I was living at the time. One of the musicians was a friend of mine's brother who invited me to the dress rehearsal in a renaissance villa. Concert was good.
After the concert, I got introduced to him and he asked me if I liked it. Shortly after I was drinking with him and others, and I turned 18 right there.
That same year I was working at a mom and pop musical instruments store, and in our hallway we had a photo of Chick standing behind a keyboard with his pants unbuttoned.
As a 17-year-old who didn’t know anything about jazz, and I asked the owner what the story was behind the photo, and he said, “Robby, when you’re a legend you don’t have to button your pants.”
I am a huge fan of Chick Corea; he is my favorite jazz pianist. I was saddened to hear this news this afternoon. My very first jazz album outside of smooth jazz was “My Spanish Heart,” which was my introduction to jazz fusion. I then discovered Return to Forever and the Elektric Band, and I also learned about Chick Corea’s post-bop work. Chick Corea’s music has been a mainstay in my life for the past 15 years. I love the playfulness of his piano playing and his compositions, which I feel is missing in a lot of music. He has helped inspire me to play: I received an electronic wind instrument (EWI) for Christmas that I’ve been practicing.
The jazz community lost a legend. RIP Chick Corea.
I had previously no idea who he was. Having listened to his music, I now understand how good he is/was and this was a gentle introduction to this genre.
Are there good jazz piano/jazz albums to listen to that people might recommend? (By him or others)
Keith Jarrett - Facing You, Survivors Suite, Fort Yawuh, Expectations
A lot of my favourite piano/keyboard playing is on Miles Davis albums:
Red Garland on Steamin'. Relaxin', Workin', Cookin', Round About Midnight, Milestones
Herbie Hancock on Four & More, My Funny Valentine
Keith Jarrett on Live-Evil
Not to mention all the other amazing musicians on those! Among my musician friends, Miles' band with Wayne Shorter, Herbie, Ron Carter and Tony Williams (1963-68) is considered unrivalled in jazz. All Miles' records with Gil Evans' orchestra are superlative also.
P.S. There's also the strange and not-very-important question of labels – I don't think Facing You (or The Köln Concert) or Live-Evil are jazz, or anywhere near it. They are played mostly by jazz musicians, I guess. Who cares, they're good music.
Bill Evans and Hiromi are, for me, in the top 3 with Chick. Hiromi is a monster of technique whereas Bill is a pioneer of the Chopin Debussy style, when most jazz pianists then didn't have roots in the classical world.
Was going to post the same. I can't go a week without listening to Bill, Chick or Hiromi at some point. There is a YouTube video of dualing pianos with Chick and Hiromi, it's one of my most watched. They are both just out of this world.
I'm not one of your friends, and I'm hardly a musician, but I agree that Miles' second quintet is indeed unrivaled in jazz. All of the music they made is sublime, but my favorites are the albums Filles de Kilimanjaro, Sorcerer, Water Babies, Nefertiti, and of course In A Silent Way (featuring late great Chick Corea).
I'm curious, if The Köln Concert is not jazz then what is it? I'm not a fan of discussing labels and semantics endlessly but I'm interested where would you place it, as I have a very hard time imagining it under any other major genre.
Well, I don't hear anything jazzy about it. I guess it's (piano) improvisation. Or "Keith Jarrett music".. a mix of classical/gospely/bluesy/folky etc influences. Don't know. If someone wanted to hear jazz, I wouldn't play them that. I think if Keith wasn't a jazz musician, noone would think of calling it jazz.
I heard a couple of times about 15 years ago a classical guitarist playing a transcription of the Memories of Tomorrow encore (the last track of Köln Concert) on the Australian classical-music-only radio station ABC Classic FM. They'd never play the original – that would be "jazz", I guess, and inappropriate. But a classical guitarist playing the same notes – classical.
Interesting view, thanks for sharing it. You are likely more qualified to categorize music as you have proper musical training. To me, the fact, that the concert is entirely improvised already places a foot on the jazz camp, considering it's an important characteristic of the genre that is not strongly shared by other genres.
The second argument can be tricky though, if I played you Technical Death Metal in the piano you may think it's classical music too [0]. There is something more to being a genre than the notes that are played, I think...
I'm not trained in categorization though, and don't often think about it! The subject reminds me of bins in records stores, and maybe that's all it comes down to. "Hmm which of these large bins does Köln Concert best fit into". Reminiscent of finding pi to 1 decimal place, not very useful. And Keith's solo improvisations seem particularly unique.
Köln Concert does seem a very different kind of thing to Facing You though, although the latter is mostly totally improvised also, I believe. I guess due to F You's much shorter tune lengths and absence of extended improvisations over 1 or 2 chords etc. Facing You will play for 10 seconds with what Köln spends 5 minutes with..
> it's an important characteristic of the genre is not strongly shared by other genres.
What is not strongly shared, improvisation, or being entirely improvised?[0]
I also listen to a lot of North Indian classical..which seems about the same percentage entirely improvised as the Köln Concert.
I'm no an expert, but I don't think totally improvised western music is at all common outside "free jazz". i.e. it usually sounds like atonal noise, not pleasingly harmonious. That is very difficult. Classical musicians used to do it, until the 19th C, apparently, but gave up.
> There is something more to being a genre than the notes that are played
Absolutely, I've made this point many times myself, and it's something that was driven home to me when I started writing music with computers. Use jazz instrumentation and the music sounds like jazz. Rock instrumentation and it sounds like rock. Orchestra and it sounds like classical etc.
[0] Just to be clear, the last track isn't "entirely improvised", it's an improvisation over the Jarrett tune Memories of Tomorrow, which he'd been playing since at least 1966. And
> Subtle laughter may be heard from the audience at the very beginning of "Part I", in response to Jarrett's quoting of the melody of the signal bell which announces the beginning of an opera or concert to patrons at the Köln Opera House, the notes of which are G D C G A.
I just learned that the Freiburg and Paris 1975 solo concerts, recorded days before and after Köln, respectively, feature pre-composed melodies a lot more. I wonder if that was because Köln was recorded by ECM? (Part II of Freiburg is a 30 minute expanded version of a melody from Survivors Suite, in Paris Part II starts with In Your Quiet Place and then keeps returning to the same Survivors Suite melody.)
There is some backstory regarding the piano that Jarrett was given for the Köln Concert being broken [0]. That may have forced him to improvise a lot more as whatever pre-composed melodies he could use as a crutch may have not been workable with the piano he had.
> That may have forced him to improvise a lot more as whatever pre-composed melodies he could use as a crutch may have not been workable with the piano he had.
Hmm I doubt it. I'd expect that to exert force more in the other direction. Anyway, it's all speculation. There is a book called Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert which seems well-written.
p.s. I just keep mentioning Facing You because I think it's his best record! I've talked to quite a few musicians who feel the same.
Thanks for the explanation, it seems you have a more nuanced view due to having a broader exposure and understanding of music and musical theory so I appreciate your viewpoints.
Disclaimer: My favorite subgenres of jazz are fusion and post-bop.
A wonderful, accessible jazz album that I highly recommend for newcomers is saxophonist Michael Brecker's 1987 self-titled album, which was his first album as a band leader (though by this point he had already been a highly prolific session player). There is some great piano playing on this album. I consider Michael Brecker one of the greatest saxophonists in jazz. Unfortunately he passed away rather untimely in 2007, but thankfully he left us with a lot of wonderful music.
While I'm still talking about Michael Brecker, I also recommend the albums "Steps Ahead," "Modern Times," and "Magnetic," which are all from the band Steps Ahead and feature Michael Brecker as a sideman. Don Grolnick was another wonderful pianist, and I also recommend his album "Hearts and Numbers," which features Michael Brecker.
Regarding Chick Corea's work, "My Spanish Heart" is an excellent introduction, as well as "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs." The albums from his two fusion bands Return to Forever and the Chick Corea Elektric Band are also all top-notch; I recommend starting with "Romantic Warrior" for the former and "Eye of the Beholder" for the latter as definitive albums for these bands.
Return to Forever, Crystal Silence, Romantic Warrior, My Spanish Heart, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy.
When you're done with those (I figure, five years or so :) ), then you will want to listen to everything else...
My personal favorite is probably Crystal Silence, that is such an amazing piece, it never ceases to give you more joy and new bits of discovery, even when you know it note-for-note.
As for other good Jazz albums, Pat Metheny, Al di Meola, Weather Report might be to your liking, and maybe McCoy Tyner, try 'Fly with the wind'. And a bit more off the beaten path, Friedrich Gulda, the 'terrorist pianist'.
-For something same, same but decidedly different, you could do worse than checking out Keith Jarrett.
I usually recommend his Köln Concert as a starting point - a recording of a 1975 concert which even though I've probably listened to it a thousand times over the years still sounds fresh and brings a smile to my face every time I put it on.
Among the contemporaries, I have a soft spot for Iiro Rantala. Oh, and Bugge Wesseltoft.
The Köln and Vienna concerts are my all-time favourite Keith Jarrett recordings. Perhaps that is part nostalgia: They were the first I ever heard of him.
I love a good piano jazz album because it makes typing on a computer keyboard so much more fun when you’re in a flow state.
I highly recommend Bill Evans Trio: The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings and Ryo Fukui: Scenery as they are two of my go-to jams, especially the former.
Bill Evans I find is fantastic for coding / flow states, it grooves just right. I can listen to village vanguard on repeat and not even notice it flows so well.
I haven't seen him mentioned in this thread, but I was introduced to the phenomenal drummer Dave Weckl through Chick Corea and his Elektric Band. In my mind, Dave is the best drummer alive today. The mix of technical and musical skills is super impressive. After Dave played with Chick and the Elektric Band he's done several albums and is all over the place sharing his gift with folks from around the world. Look him up, you won't be disappointed.
It's fun because as a drummer not that much into jazz or fusion I got introduced to Chick Corea through Dave Weckl (which yes is the best drummer alive and maybe of all time) :)
Consequently, I'm currently watching this one because my first reflex this morning was to type "Dave Weckl Chick Corea" on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XZu8DBLSs
And speaking of Dave Weckl I can't resist posting this one with the late Didier Lockwood https://youtu.be/K-R9u-1R1FI
Thanks for sharing more recent albums. As much as I love the 'classics', I believe that an essential part of the jazz tradition is the ongoing exploration of new artists and new directions.
One of the classics by Chick is "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs."
If you (or anybody else) happen to be into vinyl, the Blue Note Tone Poet pressing of this record is excellent.
Just last week I was watching a recent YouTube video of Chick explaining how he loved Roy Haynes's ride cymbal on that record so much that Roy gave it to him. He's had many of the subsequent drummers in his bands play that same cymbal. Chick was playing drums in the video and seemed to be so completely full of energy and life. I was stunned by the news of his death because he seemed to like somebody who had another 20 years ahead of him.
I discovered Chick only a couple of years ago, through a segue from Miles Davis and then the band Return to Forever (you must listen to Romantic Warrior). My wife who is more of a classic pianist, and didn't like to many of my jazz explorations, recently had embarked on trying her hand at jazz harmonies. I ended up finding that we both quite liked listening to Erroll Garner and Bill Evans.
You have plenty of great recs at this point so there's no point to regurgitate what has already been said. (Definitely check out the late McCoy Tyner rec.)
For those who haven't listened to Musicmagic before, that whole album is criminally underrated. Seriously, the name says it all. Been bumpin' to it all day!
> Schneider's advocacy against big data companies and their impact on music, culture and privacy is reflected in some of her compositions of the late 2010s, including pieces entitled "Data Lords", commissioned by the U.S. Library of Congress (2016);[16] "Don't Be Evil";[17] and "Sputnik". Several of these compositions appeared on the 2020 album Data Lords.
He played in the Miles Davis masterpiece Bitches Brew, that is mystical, eternal and mind-bending trip. Might be hard to grasp first, but when you get it... you'll really get it.
What a coincidence! I bought some of Corea's records 20 years ago but hadn't listened to them in a long time. But on the day of his death my 2-yo son pulled out one of them, and we listened to it. A recording of a concert he gave in 1978 together with Herbie Hancock [1]. They are playing like gods, absolutely breathtaking. Good starting point if you haven't made contact with Corea's work yet.
Bela's cover of Spain is excellent as well: https://youtu.be/5Z7_iEjhBpU This is a live Flecktones version but he started playing it in his pre-Flecktones days and recorded it for his first solo album.
Didn’t Corea and Fleck also do something along those lines with a third person? I remember the name “Trio”. Can’t remember who the third was though.. maybe Jean Luc Ponty or Stanley Clark?
He was, and quite a prominent one as well. While it low-key bugs me, I decided I won’t let it destroy the beauty of his art for me.
In general, it’s better not to dig into the personal lives of people you look up to, because chances are we’re attributing all sorts of virtues to them based on their work, while they’re - just like all of us - humans with flaws and dark nooks. John Lennon, for example, beat his first wife.
Seconded. Scientology is pretty good at corrupting people, and has quite a few prominent people in their ranks. John Travolta, Chick Corea, Tom Cruise, Isaac Hayes. Pretty sad in a way.
Corea's touring group was all sourced from Scientologists. It allowed him and the church to manipulate his staff. A colleague of mine helped on an overseas tour and accidentally incurred a $18,000 cell phone bill (international roaming charges out the wazoo.)
They dumped her when she complained, and found another church member to fill in. An actual tour manager would have cost more money and would have had a contract to get expenses like that paid.
>In general, it’s better not to dig into the personal lives of people you look up to, because chances are we’re attributing all sorts of virtues to them based on their work, while they’re - just like all of us - humans with flaws and dark nooks.
I'm actually an advocate of doing just that. Less idolization, less focus on the person, and more focus on learning from their work and results.
Magnificent musical skills are rare; strong verbal ability is also rare; the combination must be even more rare. Not everybody who's good at doing something is good at explaining it.
Or, as it's been put by other artists with a bit of pith:
"If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it." -- Isadora Duncan
"Talking about art is like dancing about architecture." -- Laurie Anderson
Chick Corea was not only a Scientologist, but he recorded albums that were meant to be tributes to L. Ron Hubbard [0] [1]. That is a whole different level of cringe than an artist simply being affiliated with Scientology. To go from those classic 1970s ECM recordings to this raised many eyebrows at the time.
Looking at the futuristic themes in his work, it seems to have been a major creative inspiration to him. Having grown up with church music of my own, I can recognize and appreciate that. Rarely does his music hit you over the head with it.
Yes he was, but if you like jazz, his music is amazing and he did many collaborations. Mark Isham is another jazz musician (and film composer) I like and he is also a Scientologist.
I met Mark as an undergrad when I was trying to get a career in music started. I asked him if he had any advice about getting my foot in the door of tv or film scoring, and his advice was... Scientology.
Joke's on me. I never tried Scientology and consequently never made it as a film composer.
I mean, in a way, scientology is like any other affinity group [1]. If many members of a particular affinity group are prominent in an industry, joining it is a way to get connected with those members and that industry. Scientology is also a lot more hands on, and tries to manage staffing for their most prominent members, which means positions may be open only for members (which may be illegal), so it probably is pretty effective at getting your foot in the door in the industry.
The questions are really can you get out of Scientology and stay in the industry, and is getting into the industry worth the strife of getting into and out of Scientology and of association with Scientology in general.
[1] Most affinity groups aren't abusive or dehumanizing, or at least aren't to anywhere near the same degree.
> The questions are really can you get out of Scientology and stay in the industry.
Yes, you can, at least in the last decade. Lots of celebrities who were once vocal Scientologists have now left the church, though they might not make a big fuss about it. Blogs like Tony Ortega's have written on how Scientology's membership is imploding, though it still has some committed donors that it squeezes for money to keep up appearances.
Chick has been my favorite since I began playing jazz in High School 20 years ago. Endlessly creative and a masterful player up until his last day. Since the pandemic started I've been watching him stream on IG and YT. He never lost a note and was always exploring new composers, techniques, and ways to expand his musical world. An absolute wonder and inspiration.
I never imagined that this story would be on the front page of HN. It's like seeing two of my worlds collide out of nowhere.
Chick Corea was my gateway drug to jazz as a teenager, after my guitar teacher gave me Spain to practice.
A lot of musicians have the playing chops but few do truly interesting and original work as composers. Chick Corea was one of those.
Some of my favorite tracks, off the top of my head: Spain, Captain Marvel, Armando's Rumba, Sicily, Samba L.A., The Slide, Leprechaun's Dream, North Africa, Eternal Child, Tumba Island, Got A Match, Charged Particles.
The last track has some special significance to me since I listened to it repeatedly to pump myself up for a big life decision.
Plus, I have fond memories driving my parents crazy on roadtrips by playing "that crazy music" (= either Chick Corea or video game soundtracks) in the car.
I don’t know if these videos will still be on his Facebook page, but sometime in the last year or so he did a series of livestream events where he would practice or teach. I knew I loved his playing, but I had no idea what a kind and gentle mentor type he was until then.
If you like his music, go look for those videos (COVID era).
As for his music, it’s hard to pick a favorite; his duo album with Bobby McFerrin is my favorite.
Chick Corea was the unknowing instigator of rebellion from the jazz of my father and the beginning of a broader embrace of jazz.
I saw Chick twice - once in 80s and then again a few years ago.
The night of his death I was playing selected tunes to my wife, trying to explain his significance to me. She said, "Rachmaninoff... don't you hear Rachmaninoff in that?" [ I repeated the anecdote about Art Tatum. ]
Finished my set with the Miles Davis concert on the Isle of Man, the last concert before Chick left that band.
Amazing musician. Great to see so many here touched in the same way.
I posted this on Facebook right after I read the news (a few hours before the HN story):
RIP Chick Corea. When I was 18, graduating as a wanna-be-wanky musician from rock and blues, I kind of knew jazz was a thing I was supposed to grow into. I bought a crappy $5 jazz sampler CD. (This was 1998, so that's how you discovered things.) The only thing I can remember blowing my mind was a solo piano piece from Chick Corea. I'd never heard harmony like that. Sadly, I don't remember piece it was. But Chick Corea was the bridge for me between my musical childhood and adulthood. The next album I bought, was "Where Have I Known You Before" from his fusion band, "Return to Forever". I still remember the names of everyone in the band: Chick Corea (piano and synth), Stanley Clark (bass), Al Di Meola (guitar), Lenny White (drums). Literally every member of the band was at a level of technical virtuosity I'd never heard, but more importantly, it was my introduction to jazz harmony. Here's the first song from that album in full 70s fusion cheesiness:
My absolute favorite jazz musician. After years of trying to learn "classical" piano, a new teacher introduced me to jazz. Crystal Silence was my favorite piece. Later I discovered more of his works. His concert with Bobby Mcferrin is one of my absolute favorite recordings.
I had no idea this would be such big news on HN. Chick is one of those musicians who plugged straight into my brain. Saw him live with Origin and remember being awestruck both at the music that was happening, as well as the fact that Chick wasn’t going to let his best days be in his past.
- Chick Corea Plays (a live album released last September)
Corea has so many great albums, both as leader and as sideman, that it's entirely unfair to name only those three. But... that's where inspiration and available time took me.
Chick was running the online Chick Corea Academy recently, and now it makes sense why he was so keen on sharing his gift and wisdom while it was still possible.
His music touched many people, and being on the front page of HN is testament to that.
My wife and I saw him perform a concert at Davies Concert Hall not too long before covid hit. One of my favorite parts was when he described the holidays in his house growing up. He and his siblings would sit at the piano in pairs and improvise songs together. He then pulled up a volunteer from the crowd and improvised a song with them. (Twice, actually, with two different volunteers.) They were both really, really good and the whole thing was just so much fun.
In his last time he had many videos and livestream events on YouTube where a master would share his wisdom to the aspiring people. I always postponed or procrastinated on this, where always there would pop up something “more important” to do instead and where I’d tell myself “I’ll just participate next time”.
But there won’t be a next time anymore. Chances slid through one’s finger like sand and there will be no next time. It’s your fault to not seize them.
I am so sad I will never see Chick perform live again, but mostly I'm sad the world has lost such a genuine, kind, decent, man and great artist who brought light to the world.
The first time I saw him live at Yoshi's he performed with a combo of young musicians and you could see by the interactions on stage a deep mentor/mentee bond between them.
Twice at Weyl Hall with Bela Fleck. Aside: you should take the opportunity to enjoy live performance here when life returns to normal. The first time Chick and Bela both expressed wonder at what a great venue this is. Some are calling it the Carnegie Hall of the west coast.
In Santa Barbara with Herbie Hancock everything about that performance of two real artistic geniuses was amazing. (A very overused word today, but in this case appropriate.) Their opening piece started out with avant-garde chaos which gradually morphed into extraordinary beauty. The rest of the show built on that, ending with an audience participation rendition of Spain.
I saw Chick Corea play a concert at Berkeley with Bella Fleck (a banjoist!) in like 2013. It was an utterly unique experience and I have had a soft spot for Chick Corea ever since. He will be missed!
I thought he would go on for at least a decade more the way he still looked and given his energy; what a shame (and fuck cancer). If you don't know his music, it's well worth exploring. I found The Mad Hatter in the record cupboard of my parents when I was very young and liked it instantly.
I've never heard of him even though he seems like such a legend. So I tried searching on Youtube and found a few tracks: Spain, Armado's Rhumba, You're everything, and Besama mama. Liked the last one a lot. I've never listen to jazz music before, but I'm starting today.
King of comp. Always brought out the best from musicians in a band. Henderson here, but Gambale and plethora of others. RIP, legend! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL13lJAz_wc
I only just discovered Chick Corea THIS WEEK. Upsetting to hear. His music is great. I'm not one to listen to jazz, but found him as a suggestion off of Hiromi Uehara whom he apparently mentored. Wonderful music. The way he talks was oddly calming as well.
Chick Corea is such an excellent introduction/addition to jazz and jazz fusion libraries. If you like Snarky Puppy, Chick Corea was a huge part of their inspiration. He was a musical genius and his soul will live on in jazz forever
I discovered Chick's "Children's Songs" about six months ago, ordered the book of music, and have been playing them joyfully since. It's a series of 20-ish little compositions for solo piano, each very short (1-2 minutes). They are amazing gems. You can find Chick playing them on YouTube. I've been wanting to record them to introduce my grandkids to playing the piano. Now they will have even more poignancy for me.
I've seen him playing for a few hours not that long ago. If you wouldn't have known it was a Chick Corea concert and he introduced a few things from now and then you wouldn't have guessed he was the main attraction of the show. The other players were at the same level as he was and took as much time doing solos as him.
It almost looked as the simply enjoyed being able to play every night with the best people he could find. Zero ego on stage.
We'll miss Chick. A masterful performer, composer, and collaborator.
There are so many relatively unknown artists that are also exploring like Chick did. For example, I highly recommend checking out a composer named Maria Schneider. Like Chick, she has a way of interweaving composed classical style piano with improvisational jazz. I'm going to see if I can find examples of Chick playing any of her tunes.
This is a great sadness to me. I'm a jazz pianist (not a hobby, but not a profession), and so much of the feel/sound that I learned, I learned from him. He was—without exception—the GOAT. I was just listening yesterday to some improvisation courses he taught on YouTube in 2016. I'm so glad he left us so much. But his voice will be missed.
If you're revisiting Chick's music due to this event or learning of him for the first time, here's a duet that may introduce you to another electrifying pianist, Hiromi Uehara:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRU1o-sCnqY
"Romantic Warrior" with Return to Forever is one of my favorite jazz fusion albums. The title track was the first piece I thought of when I heard about the sad news:
He left a huge mark on me--I literally have an excerpt from 500 miles high tattooed on my forearm.
Chick's work with Return to Forever made me __love__ jazz which led to so many more discoveries. You bet you'll be missed, Chick! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful compositions with the world.
I could be wrong but this album (which I've had on CD for years) might be the only studio recording that has both Chick and Metheny. My favorite part is Chick's solo on the Gershwin tune "Soon". Some of his phrases are just loaded with a feeling of nostalgia that just hits me every time.
One of my first jazz albums was Time Warp. Little did I know that it would remain one of my favorite blends of classical and jazz. I recommend listening to the whole album, start to finish. Play it on a good pair of headphones or speakers.
A song of his came on the radio today. I thought wow, haven't heard that name in a while. Good memories from my youth... I grew up in a house of musicians. Now I know why. :-(
I remember seeing him in concert. At the end of the concert the band members ran around switching instruments, having fun. Corea could hold his own no matter where he was in the band.
There's a great quote from Tom Mendola in the comments section of Rick's video.
"Thanks for doing this. Chick’s mother told me that when he was a child she would strip his bed sheets to wash them. She would find music written in pencil on the bed sheet. He was supposed to be sleeping but his mind was always in music. As amazing as he was as a musician/composer he was a wonderful person, loving father and a true friend. I will miss him."
Chick's Three Quartets is absolutely brilliant. I hope that he and Brecker, who also passed too soon because of cancer, are together again making great music somewhere out there.
Seeing him perform live on stage in Leverkusen a decade ago was unforgettable. The calm songs with Flora Purim are one of my favorites to chill out to.
It might be incorrect for me to call this "free jazz," but since the early 2000s saxophonist Wayne Shorter has played with a band featuring bassist John Patitucci (who was in the Chick Corea Elektric Band), drummer Brian Blade, and pianist Danilo Perez. This band plays in an acoustic style, but it's not in the style of Wayne Shorter's 1960s Blue Note work; instead, it's in a very "free" style of jazz. I'd check out "Without a Net" (2013) and "Emanon" (2018). I had the opportunity to see this band live at the San Francisco Jazz Center twice: once in 2015 and another time in 2017.
Late period John Coltrane (A Love Supreme and after) kind of set the standard. I find his fellow bandmates Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane, interesting as well.
I learned Spain on the bass in the hopes that one day I could play my meager rendition for him. In a concert at SFJazz he picked people out of the audience to paint their portraits with his piano. How lucky was I to be placed upon such a seat where Chick dismembered me with his eyes, eviscerating my soul upon a platter. He stared at me with the eyes of a musician who had searched heaven and hell for the most tempestuous chordal mixtures. The two minutes I spent in that seat where he painted my portrait with his keystrokes are some of the most treasured moments of my life. I felt like I had been seen, chewed up, devoured, and reincarnated as the everloving Chick Corea sycophant I had always known myself to be.
The man was a goddamn monster on the boards and we are all at a loss with his passing. Rest in Power Chick, you're in my heart forever.