On June 12, 1941, Chick Corea was born. Corea is a jazz pianist and composer who has worked with several different ensembles and as a soloist. He plays in a variety of styles but is best known as a major figure in the rise of jazz fusion in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Corea grew up in the suburbs of Boston, where his father was a jazz trumpeter who led a Dixieland band. Corea began playing piano at four, and the drums at eight; by the time he was in high school, he was performing in local clubs. After high school, he briefly attended both Columbia and Juilliard but didn’t find organized musical education very useful.
In the early 1960s, Corea worked as a sideman for several different bandleaders. He can be heard on recordings by Cal Tjader, Herbie Mann, Hubert Laws, and Stan Getz, among others. Corea released his own first album, Tones for Joan’s Bones, in 1966.
Between 1967 and 1972, Corea was a member of Miles Davis’s band. During this time, Davis began experimenting with electric instruments, including Corea’s keyboards, and adding elements of rock and R&B to his music. Corea can be heard on several important Davis albums from this period, including In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. The albums were controversial with jazz fans and critics at the time, with some accusing Davis of selling out to win the larger rock audience, but with time, they’ve become recognized as classic works.
Corea continued to explore jazz fusion with Return to Forever, the group he formed in 1971. The group changed members fairly often, with Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke being the only constants, and each change in membership led to changes in the group’s sound. But for much of its existence, Return to Forever was a quartet (drummer Lenny White and guitarist Al Di Meola completed the group), and their music was closer to soft rock than to traditional jazz. The group’s key albums include their self-titled debut, 1973’s Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, and 1974’s Where Have I Known You Before. Return to Forever was disbanded in 1978.
Corea has made occasional ventures into classical music, both as a performer and as a composer. A 1978 concert recording with Herbie Hancock features their version of a 2-piano piece by Béla Bartók, and he plays Beethoven on a 1980 album by the Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York. In 1999, he wrote and recorded a piano concerto; a few years later, he wrote his first piece that didn’t involve the piano, a string quartet that was recorded by the Orion String Quartet. Most recently, he’s premiered a concerto for jazz quintet and chamber orchestra.
Another recurring thread throughout Corea’s career has been his fondness for performing in duets. His most frequent partner has been vibraphonist Gary Burton, and he’s recorded with several different pianists Herbie Hancock, Friedrich Gulda, Hiromi Uehara, and less obvious partners such as singer Bobby McFerrin and banjo player Bela Fleck.
Return to Forever reunited in 2008, and has recorded a pair of new albums. Also in 2008, Corea began a year-long tour with guitarist John McLaughlin, who he had known since his days playing with Miles Davis, as the Five Peace Band.
Since 1976, Corea has won 25 Grammy Awards, most recently for Best Latin Jazz Album for 2019’s Antidote. In 1999, his 1968 album Now He Sings, Now He Sobs was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. That is, unfortunately, one of relatively few Corea albums that is not available from our streaming services, but a great deal of Corea’s music is available at Hoopla. You can also enjoy tribute albums, collections of Corea’s music, recorded by the Piotr Matusik Quartet, and the Manhattan Transfer.