Farewell, Mr. CC.
A couple of days ago one of the groundbreaking musicians left us for another planet - Armando Anthony “Chick” Corea. We are not going to cite his massive biography and discography - the world is full of sources, where you can read plenty of information and listen to the music of Chic Corea’s more than 50-year long career.
Today we look back at the other faces of Corea - his love for classical music and his collaborations with young musicians.
The wave of messages from the web from people who worked with Corea led us to this thought. And they all agree - he changed our lives.
Two quotes are like a label for Corea’s philosophy and understanding of music and art. “Only play what you hear! If you don’t hear anything, don’t play anything.”
The second quote is from a personal correspondence with the American pianist Jason Lindner (our favorite musician, one of the people who recorded Blackstar with Bowie), which Lindner himself shared these days:
“Keep on creating and creating and creating. That’s the real antidote!”
So much for philosophy. Today, on our YouTube playlist, we specifically look at the other sides of Chick Corea apart from his albums and Return to Forever.
For a start, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett played Mozart in Japan in 1985. Two grand pianos and a cosmic experience. Here, naturally, follows the 1969 recording from the times with Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter.
We return to Japan, this time to hear the duet with the young pianist Hiromi Uehara - discovered for the big music by Corea, with the performance of the classic piece Spain from 2006. Another example of Corea's constant desire to improvise and interact with new musicians, as well as his curiosity about who can do what. The duo is explosive and to this day, we enjoy immersing ourselves in their game.
This brings us to Corea's acoustic project with Stanley Clark on bass, in which we had the pleasure of immersing ourselves live years ago. Magic is not a big enough word to describe the universe in which the two musicians send their listeners. Mind and common thought on a completely different level. No compromise.
What follows is another discovery of Corea - the Georgian piano prodigy Beka Gochiashvili. The enjoyment of shared improvisation is also present in the game with Becca. And the age difference between the two is more than 50 years. But what is this figure for Corea.
We continue with the classic, but also reworked play La Fiesta.
Another joint performance with Hiromi follows, because they are on the same page.
Towards the end we listen to the version of Armando’s rumba from Montreux 2019.
And before the finale, the concert of the Acoustic Trio from 2018 with John Patitucci and Dave Weckl.
We end again with classical music - improvisations on Bach from our days, where Corea plays the flute part.
RIP, Maestro!
February 2021
Image Istanbul 2015 © MA
