Chick Corea - S&D

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.