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Chick Corea, pianist, composer, drummer, percussionist (he also plays trumpet avocationally); b. Chelsea, Mass., June 12, 1941. His father's parents were Italian immigrants, Antonio Corea (b. in 1876 or 7; a shoemaker, stitcher) and Esther (b. 1885 or 6, a homemaker). Antonio's family had come over in 1894 and Esther's in 1900. They had married in 1905 or early in 06 and were Roman Catholic.
By the April 1930 census they lived in a building at 111 Williams Street in Chelsea, Mass. that had several apartments, in a neighborhood with many other immigrants from Italy, Poland, and Russia, with their thirteen children, all born in Mass.: Armando J. Corea, listed as a professional drummer, b. 1906; Anna, who worked as a stockkeeper for the shoes, born 1909; Frank, a professional trumpeter, b. in 1911; Nicholas, b. 1913, a nailer of shoes; Rose, b. 1905, a stockkeeper; Helen, b. ca. August 1916; Orlando, b. ca. March 1917; Jennie, b. ca. Sept. 1918; Salvatore, b. 1920 or 21; Jimmy, b. a year later; Mary, b. 1923 or 4; Gloria, b. 1925 or 6; and John, b. around September of 1927. Yet a fourteenth child came later.
Chick's father to be, Armando J. Corea (b. 26 Oct 1906, Mass., d. 13 Oct 1987 in neighboring Everett), married Anna Corea (b. 21 Apr 1909; d. 28 Aug 2000 in Los Angeles, where she had moved to be with Chick some time after her husband died). It is possible that the census taker confused Armando with Frank, or that Armando played drums at one time, because he was known primarily as a trumpeter, composer and arranger who led and wrote for an eight- to 10-piece band in the Boston area from the late 20s and 30s. He kept a scrapbook of ads, and during the Depression they were on radio.
When Chick was about four the family bought a piano for him. Armando Sr. inspired and encouraged his son at every level, from his St. Rose Drum & Bugle Corps days to his first attempts at bebop. He taught Chick the basics of the piano and music notation, and wrote out some arrangements of standard tunes for him to learn. He played Chick recordings of Parker, Gillespie, Bud Powell and the Billy Eckstine band, and took him to hear live jazz. Powell was his first jazz inspiration (when he was older he transcribed some of Powell's solos). For about six years (Corea has said this was from the ages of 11 to about 17, but he has sometimes said he was younger than that), he studied Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and other classical composers with Salvatore Sullo. By the 1950s the family lived on 149 Chestnut Street in Chelsea. He was known as Chickie to friends at Williams Junior High and Chelsea High, among them Minna Karas-Marino (now a Chelsea city employee) and his first drummer Lennie Nelson, longtime employee of the MBTA. Chick also has a younger cousin, Linda List, who now lives in Tewksbury, MA.
At a young age Chick played with his father at country clubs and private parties in Boston and Cape Cod. Chick started doing gigs on his own in high school, with a Portuguese bandleader named Phil Barboza. (Barboza was performing and recording with his "Cape Verdean" band at least through the late 80's but he passed away before 2000.) There was a conga player in the band named Bill Fitch who introduced him to Latin music through records. Around 1957-8 he formed a trio with two colleagues from the Barboza band, Tony Williams and Don Alias, who then played bass (now known as a percussionist. Powell remained a favorite, but the first pianist he transcribed and studied in depth was Horace Silver, both his piano solos and his compositions. His trio performed many of Silver's tunes. He played at Wally's Jazz Club and elsewhere. His high school yearbook listed him as "most likely to succeed" and "most musical." For his father he later wrote Armando's Rhumba and he dedicated his CD Past, Present and Futures, which also included two tunes for her, "Anna's Tango" and "Dignity," as well as "The Chelsea Shuffle" for his childhood home. In May 2001, Chelsea's Everett Avenue was renamed in his honor Chick Corea Way.
Corea graduated high school in June 1959, spent the summer with a show band in Las Vegas, and in September he moved to Manhattan and began studying liberal arts at Columbia U., but when he saw the Miles Davis quintet at Birdland with Coltrane during their engagement of September 17-October 7, 1959, his decision to be a full-time musician was confirmed. He went to see the group every night for several weeks, and soon after left Columbia. He went back to Chelsea to prepare for an audition to Juilliard since he wanted a formal reason to be in New York. He practiced classical repertoire intenselty for perhaps eight months and he was accepted there for the fall of 1960, but again he found that formal education was not his interest, and he only stayed a few months at Juilliard. He was now settled on 71st Street in New York and saxophonist Joe Farrell helped introduce him to other musicians. He began working and recording with Mongo Santamaria (from 1962), Willie Bobo, Cal Tjader, Blue Mitchell, and Herbie Mann (at least March-July, 1965). He spent about two years with Stan Getz ca. 1966-68. (Steve Swallow and Roy Haynes were in the group but for the album Sweet Rain both had the flu and were replaced by Ron Carter and Grady Tate.) In March 1968 he recorded Now He Sings Now He Sobs with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes, which is considered among musicians to be one of the most brilliant trio albums ever and had wide influence--his solo on Matrix on that album was transcribed, studied, and even performed by Lee Konitz (who recorded it with his nonet) and others. He spent some time accompanying Sarah Vaughan during 1968.
When Herbie Hancock left Miles Davis's group, Chick's friend Tony Williams recommended him and he left Vaughan in San Francisco (replaced briefly by Bob James, who had already worked with Vaughan) to join Miles Davis' band (from mid-68 through the summer of 1970), playing first acoustic, then electric piano at the insistence of the leader. During his tenure he also he became more involved separately in projects utilizing free improvisation, recording in 1969 under his own name the album Is, where he also played percussion, and after Davis leading Circle (1970-71) with Dave Holland, Barry Altschul and Anthony Braxton, and also performing and recording solo in 1971. During this time, around 1970, he was introduced to Scientology by a bassist friend, Jamie Faunt, and he soon became devoted to it, remaining so to this day. He decided that he wanted his music to be more accessible, "melodic and lyrical with more traditional rhythms" and with occasional vocals, and he has concentrated since then heavily on composition.
He has created a distinct musical identity by a conscious incorporation of Latin music and of modern classical music, particularly Bartok. Stravinsky, Alban Berg, and Olivier Messaien are also favorites. He performed at the Village Vanguard in Jan. 1972 and recorded the album Return to Forever, which became the title of the band, with himself on Fender Rhodes electric piano, Farrell, Stanley Clarke (who he met in 1971), Airto Moreira (from Davis's band) and Moreira's wife Flora Purim, in Feb. 1972. He, Clarke, and Tony Williams toured with Stan Getz around March through July 1972 (with Moreira added for recordings), before turning to full-time touring with Return to Forever. Also in 1972 he married singer and keyboardist Gayle Moran, a long time friend. By 1973 the band featured Clarke, Lenny White and Bill Connors, replaced by Al DiMeola in 1974. He began using a broader range of keyboards including the Moog synthesizer. Ron Moss, a trombonist who was road manager for Return To Forever in 1974, has been his manager ever since.
Corea settled in the Los Angeles area by the mid-'70s and his management company, Chick Corea Productions, operated out of North Hollywood. His then teenaged son and daughter attended the Delphian School in Sheridan, Oregon, a boarding school based on the principles of Scientology. In 1978 he recorded there solo on a unique hand built piano. Return To Forever, now with Gayle Moran on voice, had six albums reach the Billboard pop album chart in the '70s, three in the top. In 1976 his album "Romantic Warrior" sold more than 500,000 copies. Musicmagic was nominated for a Grammy in 1977.
He continued using the Return to Forever title for his bands through 1977, then delved into a diverse series of recordings--electronic ensembles, solo piano, chamber music, reunions with Vitous and Haynes (occasionally for tours and recordings since 1981), and acoustic duos with Herbie Hancock (1978, on tour and on recordings) and Gary Burton (on an occasional basis since 1972).
He wrote a regular column for Contemporary Keyboard magazine (now known simply as Keyboard) during its first years of existence beginning in 1975. Other projects were the Grammy winning Leprechaun album and tours and recordings with an all star group featuring Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard (1979-82). In June 1982 he recorded two LPs of duets with European pianists accomplished in both classical music and jazz, Friedrich Gulda and Nicolas Economou, the latter including some music of Bartok. He has also recorded Mozart's Concerto for two pianos and orchestra (with Gulda) and his own piano concerto was written around 1983, premiered in 1986, but not recorded until 1999.
He began an association with GRP Records that was announced by the release in 1986 of a recording with his new group, the Elektric Band, and the beginning of a collaboration with John Patitucci and Dave Weckl, who also recorded and performed with him as the Akoustic Band. These were his first regular working groups since the late 1970s. They stayed together for about six years.
In 1992, he and Ron Moss formed the GRP subsidiary Stretch Records; among its early releases were projects by Bob Berg, John Patitucci, Eddie Gomez, Robben Ford, and of course Corea. In 1996 Stretch came under the aegis of Concord Records.
Corea also runs the Mad Hatter studio in Los Angeles.
In 1995 he began performing with Bobby McFerrin and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, performing and then recording two Mozart concertos (improvising the cadenzas). They later did a similar program with the New York Philharmonic. Corea toured in 1996 with his Time Warp quartet, then toured and recorded with Joshua Redman, Roy Haynes and others to celebrate the legacy of Bud Powell. Also in 1996, he relocated to Clearwater, Florida, where he and Moran had often visited for Scientology retreats. They live there during about three months of the year when he is not touring internationally.
He received an honorary doctorate from Berklee in 1997. His group Origin was founded in 1997 and the released set, A Week at the Blue Note was only the second gig it ever did. He studied martial arts with Portland Oregon native Fred King some years ago and performed "Sifu" for him with Origin in 1998. Since 2001 he has toured in a trio with bassist Avishai Cohen and the drummer Jeff Ballard, both from Origin. The trio appeared at the Puerto Rico Heineken JazzFest 2003, which honored Corea that year as its featured artist. The Elektric Band reunited for a recording in late 2003 and a tour on the CD's release in 2004. He has also considered a duo project with Egyptian percussionist (and fellow Scientologist) Hossam Ramzy.
Corea is also a drummer and percussionist; he recorded as a drummer on Wayne Shorter's record "Super Nova" and the re-release of Corea's album Three Quartets has a previously unreleased track of him drumming with Mike Brecker on "Confirmation." He plays percussion on "Is" and has a marimba at home.
He has said that his "desert island" music would include, at least, all the Miles Davis/Gil Evans recordings, all the recordings of Monk, Powell, and Coltrane, Bartok's String Quartets recorded by the Vegh Quartet, and Scarlatti's keyboard music (sheet music).
He composes using a pencil on score paper and often works out ideas by improvising at the piano.
from www.jazz.com
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