Together they recorded five hard-hitting offerings that elevated fusion to a whole new level, including 1986’s Elektric Band, 1987’s Light Years, 1988’s excellent Eye of the Beholder, 1990’s Inside Out and 1991’s Beneath the Mask. Corea signed a record deal with GRP Records in 1986 which led to the release of ten albums between 1986 and 1994, seven with the Elektric Band, two with the Akoustic Band, and a solo album, Expressions. Through the remainder of the ’80s and into the ’90s, Corea returned to the fusion arena with a vengeance with his Elektric Band, featuring drummer Dave Weckl, saxophonist Eric Marienthal, bassist John Patitucci and guitarist Frank Gambale. Corea celebrated his 75th birthday in 2016 by playing with more than 20 different groups during a six-week stand at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, New York City.
Surrounded by jazz, he was influenced at an early age by bebop and Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Horace Silver, and Lester Young. Also in 1997, Chick released a recording with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra with Bobby McFerrin as conductor.
Later that year he toured in an all-star quartet with saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Roy Haynes. On their first two records, Return to Forever consisted of Flora Purim on vocals, Joe Farrell on flute and soprano saxophone, Airto Moreira on drums, and Stanley Clarke on double bass.
Toward the end of the 1970s, Corea embarked on a series of concerts and two albums with Hancock. This band was recorded on Blue Note and ECM. He won another Grammy for Antidote (2019), which he recorded with his Spanish Heart Band. Chick’s acoustic/electric tone poem earned two Grammys—remarkably his 13th and 14th. In 1982, Corea performed The Meeting, a live duet with the classical pianist Friedrich Gulda. Updates? Inspired by working with Stanley Clarke (bass) and Lenny White (drums) on the RTF tour, Chick enlisted them to form a trio for a worldwide tour. The duo played a concert at Tokyo's Budokan arena on April 30. Collaborating together for the first time, Chick and John took a new musical leap, presenting highly creative music with Kenny Garrett on saxophone, Christian McBride on bass and Vinnie Colaiuta and Brian Blade on drums. He followed that up in 1999 with Origin’s third outing, Change, which was recorded within the relaxed confines of the home Chick shares with his wife and singer Gayle Moran in Florida. Between 1968 and 1970, Chick also appeared on such groundbreaking Davis recordings as In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Live-Evil and Live at the Fillmore East.
He collaborated with numerous musicians and received more than 20 Grammy Awards.
In addition, Chick delivered Super Trio: Corea/Gadd/McBride, featuring drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Christian McBride.
[3] Drummer Lenny White and guitarist Bill Connors later joined Corea and Clarke to form the second version of the group, which expanded the earlier Latin jazz elements with a more rock and funk-oriented sound inspired by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, led by his Bitches Brew bandmate John McLaughlin. The RTF tour circled the globe before concluding in August. [28] Corea is not banned from performing in Germany, however, and had several appearances at the government-supported International Jazz Festival in Burghausen, where he was awarded a plaque in Burghausen's "Street of Fame" in 2011. The box set was released in Japan only by Universal.
The live set, comprising many of Chick’s compositional gems, was released only in Japan through Universal and is available as an import and through Chick’s website. The album featured Chick’s collaboration with Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi, recorded live at the Tokyo Blue Note.
It was named the “Jazz Album of the Year” by Japan’s Swing Journal, thereby winning the publication’s coveted Gold Disc Award. [20] Most of the group's studio recordings were re-released on the compilation Return to Forever: The Anthology to coincide with the tour.
His excellent Piano Improvisations, Vol. That same year, Chick also had a reunion with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes for the double LP Trio Music, released 13 years after their landmark recording, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs.
By early 1973, Return to Forever added electric guitarist Bill Connors and thunderous drummer Lenny White, and the group was fully fortified to embrace the emerging fusion movement.
The trio discs featured Chick leading the following bass/drum bands: John Patitucci and Antonio Sanchez (for the disc named “Dr. In 1968, Corea read Dianetics, science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard's most well known self-help book, and in the early-1970s developed an interest in Hubbard's science fiction novels. With his former RTF band mates Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, augmented by jazz greats Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson, Chick recorded Echoes of an Era with Chaka and followed up with the all-instrumental studio recording Griffith Park Collection and the live double-LP, Griffith Park Collection, Vol. That debut album not only forged their chemistry, but also brought to renown the deep and insightful collaboration of the two virtuosic improvisers. Combining his light, playful melodies with the use of synthesizers and numerous electric keyboard instruments plus the incorporation of rock and Spanish rhythms, Corea appealed to an audience beyond the boundaries of the jazz market. 1 was written for the Orion String Quartet and performed by them at 2004's Summerfest in Wisconsin.
He released his debut album, Tones for Joan's Bones, in 1966. The first concert in this series was played at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle and included improvised music, songs by the duo, and standards by other composers.[15]. [8][9] His father, a jazz trumpeter who led a Dixieland band in Boston in the 1930s and 1940s, introduced him to the piano at the age of four. Corea has continued releasing jazz fusion concept albums such as To the Stars (2004) and Ultimate Adventure (2006).
He participated in 1998's Like Minds with Gary Burton on vibes, Pat Metheny on guitar, Dave Holland on bass and Roy Haynes on drums.
Actually, the trio is another reunion, harking back to a weeklong stint in 1973 at the heralded San Francisco jazz venue Keystone Korner, where the three developed the electric-jazz ideas that led to the development of RTF. [3] With Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, he has been described as one of the major jazz piano voices to emerge in the post-John Coltrane era. Named after their eponymous 1972 album, Corea's Return to Forever relied on both acoustic and electronic instrumentation and drew upon Latin American styles more than on rock music. Chick’s first release for his new label was 1997’s Remembering Bud Powell, an all-star outing that featured young talent like tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, trumpeter Wallace Roney, alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett and bassist Christian McBride, along with jazz drumming legend Roy Haynes (who had performed on the bandstand beside Powell in the early ’50s). In the 1970s he formed the fusion band Return to Forever. The four electric albums are now compiled on the remixed and remastered Return to Forever: The Anthology.
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