Chick Corea 75th Birthday Residence At The Blue Note – November 12th, 2016

Chick Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts – (same as me!) – and was too young to remember the day the piano came.  However, according to the story that he got from his folks and relayed to me before the show on Saturday evening, his mother Anna bought an upright piano at a funeral for $40 and had it delivered to their third floor apartment.  His dad taught him how to read music and he took to it right away.  Lessons began at age eight and a local drum and bugle corps enjoyed contributions from Corea before early appearances on stage with Stan Getz and, after arriving in New York, Cab Calloway.  He made his first album in ’66 and joined Miles Davis’ band two years later.

Chick Corea said he didn’t plan his 75th birthday party celebration to be a career retrospective but that is part of what’s been unfolding for the past few weeks in the West Village as he’s hooked up with dozens of musicians he recorded and toured with for the past fifty years or so.  He’ll lead twenty different bands before he’s through!  Retrospective  isn’t exactly the right word though as it sounds like a look over the past and doesn’t take into account the creative spirit that makes Corea the epitome of a jazzman.  He’s in the moment and the music is going to go wherever it wants to go.  Beyond that, some new collaborators are joining in and fresh projects – like his electronic experiment – are being explored.

Whatever Chick Corea is doing, he should keep doing it!    He’s the youngest 75 year old I’ve ever met.  He mentioned a healthy lifestyle and that Scientology has been a continual help to him since he got interested in it in ’68.  Beyond this residence, he’s got all kinds of things lined up for the future including more touring with his electric band as well as Bela Fleck, a new group with Steve Gadd, more work with the electronic experiment, a trio with Eddie Gomez and Brian Blade, and orchestral work in 2018!