Chick Corea - S&D

A prog-rockin' friend rates "Romantic Warrior" highly.

The early Chick stuff reissued as "Tones For Joan's Bones" has an atmospheric coolness.

I really love periods of Chick's solo stuff though. 'Now He Sings, Now He Sobs' is an absolutely brilliant piano trio, some of the shit those guys played isn't to be believed.

The 80s Eletrik/Acoustik stuff with Pattitucci and Weckl doesn't too much for me at all, cheesy 80s sounds and not much soul. Then again, I think I decided this years ago when I was first getting into jazz and haven't heard it since then.

I think 'Change', the album he made with his current sextet, is pretty fantastic. Great tunes and they have a great sound. I have the one with his New Trio too, haven't listened to it too much...I think when it came out it was too over the top for me, maybe I would be able to handle it better now (some pretty crazy interaction going on).

His various duets with Gary Burton and Bobby McFerrin are pretty great too.

I've got the ECM Paris-Concert release and I think it's great, though others may disagree. I love the way the opening track, "Nefertiti", goes so far afield into free territory but then (and this is the hard part) comes back to the form of the song in a way that makes complete sense. There's definitely a tug-of-war going on in the band, with Chick trying to pull things in one direction, Braxton in the other, with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul playing both sides of the equation. Sometimes that sort of thing is disastrous, but in this concert's best moments, it works brilliantly. It wasn't long after this concert that Chick left, and the other three members, plus Sam Rivers, ended up recording the fantastic Conference of the Birds as the Dave Holland Quartet.

Yeah, there's some great stuff on those albums. Crystal Silence, with Burton, has some really beautiful tracks -- I used to listen to it constantly when I was in high school, along with Metheny's Bright Size Life, Eberhard Weber's stuff, etc. "Señor Mouse", "Desert Air" and "Falling Grace" are especially good. I've also got their live album on vinyl but haven't listened to it in ages (and don't remember what I thought of it). I like the McFerrin album a lot, too. They do a nice version of "Blues Connotation", and McFerrin's cheesy-jazz-singer pisstake on "Autumn Leaves" is pretty funny.

I've always steered pretty clear of the ____ic Band stuff, though, and have never heard any Return to Forever that grabbed me -- I'm more of a Weather Report/Mahavishnu kind of guy...

Influenced By

* Sun Ra
* Thelonious Monk
* L. Ron Hubbard
* Art Tatum
* Horace Silver
* Bud Powell
* Bill Evans
* Miles Davis
* Béla Bartók
* McCoy Tyner

Different but worth mentioning: live set(s) he did with Lionel Hampton. Not sure when, the bootleg I have (I Ain't Mad At You) says 1994 which makes Hampton, like, 80-something. He (Hampton) is audible grunting and mumbling throughout. Anyway, it's hot.

Scientology: He was most definitely a Scientologist as were some of his collaborators - Stanley Clarke and Neville Potter at least. LRon is credited on many albums as a 'source of inspiration' or such. Which reminds me - Stan's album Journey to Love has some great Chick on it as well.

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/~cbz17800/Dscf020311.jpg

Probably a good one, too! from around the Circle time I gather.

So, is this some sort of secret society also?

No, that's very recent. Came out in 2000. I don't think Chick had discovered Scientology yet at the time he was in Circle.

Much of Hubbard's sci-fi was workmanlike and boring. So is the Elektrik Band's album devoted to this thing. There are about eight song interludes addressed to "looking outside the porthole." As something fit for the Onion or Mad magazine, it's funny. As anything else, laughable and wretched.

Corea seems to be afflicted with a bit of the disease that one sees in some celebrity/semi-celebrity followers of Hubbardism. That is, they can't distinguish that his literary work was shit. Additional example: John Travolta, aforementioned "Battlefield Earth" which any sensible person, upon reading, would have assumed was impossible to make into a movie, even was anti-movie in its nature.

bought a beautiful japanese cd reish of tones for joan's bones for £3 in fopp the other day - great alb, wish he'd recorded more with this group - joe farrell, woody shaw, steve swallow, joe chambers

anyone hear his trio record from last year w/Christian McBride & Brian Blade? i haven't yet, but would like to check it out for Blade alone.

don't know the kid, but this is fun (everybody v. relaxed & precise, which i suppose is the Chick Corea house style):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlnwHDc8Rgk

Just saw Chick with Christian and Brian at Boston Symphony Hall and they *slayed*. So tight, so much fun to watch each of them perform, masters of their instruments. A hometown gig for Chick, lots of his friends and family leant to a really fun atmosphere.

Just listening to the Trilogy 2 record right now, it's really great.

Watching his daily practice stream now.

Seeing unconfirmed reports that he passed away...

Yeah, Vernon Reid saying this

Just got the terrible news of Chick Corea passing.
Stunned

— Vernon Reid (@vurnt22) February 11, 2021

On his Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/chickcorea/posts/10158422599898924

This is very sudden. I've been listening to Crystal Silence a lot since Christmas, there was a real rigour in a lot of his improvisations of that era, without being academic.

rip. always loved this jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEHuUdQ4krw

I post this with love:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clF_SNa23lI

Genuinely shocked at his death — he's always seemed extraordinarily vital and joyous (not a moper like Jarrett). I haven't heard anything close to the majority of his catalog, but those mid '70s Return To Forever albums are stunning, and I just reviewed a solo live disc of his for The Wire a few months ago.

Damn, RIP to a real one

Great photo of one of Return To Forever’s incarnations. pic.twitter.com/io9SCkOyGI

— Tom Reagan’s Hat (@RufusTSuperfly) February 11, 2021

I'm listening now to "Steps - What Was" on Now He Sings, Now He Sobs. It features (I think) the first and best version of that Spanish progression that he would return to so often.

RIP. By the way, I had no idea he actually was of Italian extraction, what with "My Spanish Heart" and all.

sucks

Damn, his early contributions are forever all-time. RIP.

listening to crystal silence rn, rip

Damn. Also can't believe he was even that old, although it makes sense that he was. Incredible musician. My favorite work of his was always Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, and the stuff with Miles, which is early, but he was always great. I couldn't completely get down with RTF, &Friends, etc., but a lot of that was more a sonic/aesthetic preference than a musical one.

RIP, his playing with miles and the return to forever album on ECM are so fab. His playing/improving can be so warm and mellifluous and welcoming. But I also think maybe he has quite a wider range than maybe he’s given credit for? not on ilx I mean.

RIP

:( RIP

We used Crystal Silence on classical guitar for our prelude music at our wedding. RIP.

The Miles stuff, the early solo joints, CIRCLE!, the first Return to Forever lp, even that stuff alone is more then most people achieve and he went on to do a ton more

As Nate Chinen pointed out on twitter last night, something that hadn't ever even dawned on me, is that up until now sadly, a Circle reunion though obviously unlikely was theoretically possible

RIP

RIP. Aside from his classics, I really like those live albums with Christian McBride & Brian Blade.

I need to hear those

Is that his latest touring band? I saw Chick at Boston Symphony Hall in Oct 2019 and it was a truly special experience. Hometown crowd was out in force, lots of his family and friends. And the guys backing him were jaw-dropping great.

absolute legend. respect.

Saw him in duet with Bela Fleck and it was fantastic. Was probably on the tour that produced their second (live) record together, which I haven't heard. But the initial collab, The Enchantment, is lovely if the idea of piano and banjo duet doesn't turn you off. Really wish I could have seen him with McBride and Blade - what a trio.

He was a titan and unperson otm about that vitality in his playing. Listening to Crystal Silence right now but appreciating this thread for guidance into where else to dig into the nooks and crannies of his large and diverse catalog.

RIP. Aside from his classics, I really like those live albums with Christian McBride & Brian Blade.

I was trying to decide that to play last night and I was kind of overwhelmed by the great stuff in his catalog, so the first one I ended up putting on was Trilogy 2 and that felt like a good choice. Went back to some Return To Forever after that.

Blade is a grounding influence, he's so percussive and virtuosic that it could be a bit much with a different drummer.

Also Gary Burton's Like Minds (the one with Metheny/Haynes/Dave Holland) is a classic, it sort of feels like everyone is part of the same smooth tone on that one, in a good way. And Corea + Haynes is always good.

ooh yeah Like Minds is wonderful

Those Trilogy albums are really, really good. And his (for now) final release, Plays, was really interesting, a live solo set where he plays Mozart, Monk, Scarlatti, Jerome Kern, and a bunch of other stuff, then creates improvised musical portraits of people plucked from the audience, tells stories, etc., etc. It's a lot of fun to listen to, though maybe a little less fun this week. I reviewed it for The Wire a few months ago and said, "Were it not for his talent and technique, this would be unforgivable hokum, but somehow it works." And that's kind of the way I'd sum up a lot of his career...he was insanely talented and a brilliant composer, but had absolutely no allergy to cheese.

Will anyone venture an opinion on his, er, spiritual beliefs and the effect they might have had on his music, or the reception of his music?

I'd be happy to but you have to pay me first, so if you could just hook yourself up to some tomato cans here.

Subversive person!

Out of respect for the dead, we will ignore the scientology and the Weckl era.

Will anyone venture an opinion on his, er, spiritual beliefs and the effect they might have had on his music, or the reception of his music?

I'll just say that anybody wondering why there was never a Circle reunion need only read Braxton's comments on Scientology in Graham Lock's Forces In Motion.

I listen to his stuff with Miles more than anything else - simply because I listen to Miles more than anyone else - but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be those first two solo albums, Tones for Joan's Bones and Now He Sings, Now He Sobs. Both were released on different labels in 1968, but the former was actually recorded in 1966 - right out of the gate, he's already fully formed as an artist. Sad that I never saw him live. Following Lee Konitz's death, the news of Keith Jarrett's debilitating strokes as well as Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter's health issues, you can probably count on one hand how many of the giants of jazz's last golden age are still actively touring.

I wish I'd seen him live, too. I would have spent a lot of money to see a reunion show by the rip-roaringest Return To Forever lineup (Di Meola, Clarke, White), and that short-lived Five Peace Band he had with John McLaughlin was pretty wild, too.

Roy Haynes will outlive us all

95! I wonder if he still celebrates his birthday at the Blue Note? (Or perhaps celebrated - the club's in trouble and may not be around after the pandemic subsides.)

John McLaughlin is another one who's retired from the road. He's still physically able to perform, so I hope he'll do one-offs like festivals or something.

I was lucky enough to see McLaughlin's final US tour, where he played Mahavishnu Orchestra material with a nine-piece band. It ruled.

And his (for now) final release

At least something recent already in the works...

In 2018, a reunited Chick Corea Akoustic Band played the Detroit Jazz Festival. I sat next to Mark Stryker, who said “This band sounds a hell of a lot better than it did 25 years ago.” Concord Jazz will release an album from that tour on May 21. pic.twitter.com/JzCRKdfyIH

— Nate Chinen (@natechinen) February 12, 2021

hymn of the seventh galaxy is goddamn fucking amazing btw

I want Brad to, in five years, have evolved into a mystic who plays eight keyboards at once.

I'm so ready for an ILX jazz prog band

Random album cover inspiration:

https://progressivelyso.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/eloy-ocean-1.jpg

Lovely thread of memories

Chick Corea and I became very close in the 60s after I first saw him play in Harlem with Blue Mitchell. Chick was a true modest genius. We had many incredible jam sessions together over the years and my memories of him haven’t stopped flooding in since hearing of his passing. 1/8 pic.twitter.com/QDzyaVSLDI

— Mike Garson (@mikegarson) February 19, 2021

Okay, that is amazing.

Great piece by Mark Stryker, on Ethan Iverson’s site:

https://ethaniverson.com/chick-corea-1941-2021-by-mark-stryker/

Extremely informative -- much thanks for that.

Stryker piece is a proper remembrance, not dominated by all the RTF/Eletrik/Akoustik Band stuff.

To that point, it strikes me that there are lot of parallels between Chick and Todd Rundgren. Both were savants whose early works brought a ton of critical praise but also expectations, which they seemingly intentionally ran away from. Both spent decades exploring their own proggy fusoid directions to the horror of critics (and delight of many fans) and never apologized for it. For all that (as the Stryker piece shows), neither really ever lost touch with their respective traditions either – there are a ton of more straight ahead releases and tours littered throughout both men’s catalogues. Lastly, as stuff like the Garson thread demonstrates, both were deeply involved in the success of others along the way.

We need more of these types.

Interesting comparison. I wonder if the fact that Corea was universally regarded as a giant of his genre, while Todd is seen as a minor or cult artist with a handful of hits, can be traced to the differences between rock and jazz (or personality differences).

Good essay, yeah. He's definitely a unique jazz artist in that I love some of his records while finding many others unlistenable. Every respected jazz artist has ok records that merely have good musicianship, without that extra spark or synchronicity of all the factors aligning (band chemistry, material, recording). But I'm struggling to think of anyone with that many records that I truly do not want to hear.

Listening to this NTS show which looks like a cool selection:
https://www.nts.live/shows/in-focus/episodes/in-focus-chick-corea-19th-february-2021

Ok 45 min and I need to take a break, too many notes

So do you people have your Return to Forever records filed along side your Chick Corea. Checking for a friend. I got my Mahavishnu and Weather Report filed as it's own thing, but considering Return to Forever, I can't quite make it work - they just go with Chick's other records.