“The World Needs More Artists”

In Memoriam Chick Corea

by Jan Reinelt (March 5, 2021)

Chick Corea, one of the greatest jazz pianists, has left the stages of the world forever at the age of 79. For Stretta Journal, composer and musician Jan Reinelt describes the significance of the brilliant improviser for the music world—and for him personally.


© Roland Godefroy / Wikimedia

As I sat in the school big band of the Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule in Cairo on a Tuesday afternoon at the tender age of eleven, waiting with my trombone for the rehearsal to start, I had no idea that my musical universe was about to expand exponentially in the coming minutes. Our big band leader, Mr. Eckhardt, had brought along the piece Spain by Chick Corea and was already eagerly distributing the individual parts.

Every time we were learning something new, Mr. Eckhardt would play us a recording of the new piece. So, on that day, he carefully placed the album Light as a Feather in the CD player and selected track number 6.

I still remember very clearly what followed. With my mouth open and my ears even more so, I let Chick’s brilliant tonal painting wash over me. What I heard was powerful, virtuosic, energetic, playful, delicate, rhythmic, refined, quirky, and harmonious—a kind of music I had never heard before and that would accompany me from then on.

Many people who have heard the wonderful compositions and improvisations of Chick Corea for the first time have experienced similar feelings. Therefore, the news that Armando Anthony Corea, known as Chick, passed away on February 9, 2021, after a brief and severe illness at the age of 79, was all the more tragic.

Beginnings with Miles Davis

Born on June 12, 1941, in the small town of Chelsea, Massachusetts, to Italian and Spanish immigrant parents, the piano virtuoso Chick Corea was introduced to jazz at an early age, as his father was a trumpeter and led a Dixieland band. Chick started playing the piano by himself at the age of four.

By the age of eight, he added the drums, but the piano was his great love from the start and would remain so for his entire life. Or more precisely: all types of keyboard instruments.

In the late 1960s, he began experimenting with the Fender Rhodes (an electric piano) in Miles Davis’s band and developed his unique sound more and more, especially with electronic instruments like keyboards and synthesizers.

By the way, he got his first gig with the Miles Davis Quintet somewhat by chance, as their then-keyboardist Herbie Hancock was bedridden with food poisoning and thus could not play, as Corea recounts in an interview. From that point on, he was a regular member of the band and recorded the studio albums Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew over the following two years.

Jazz + Rock = Fusion

But the creatively charged and idea-sparking mind soon couldn’t stay with Miles Davis, and so he left the band to form his own group. He named it Return to Forever, which was also the title of the debut album.

The music featured on this album is known as fusion, a mix of jazz and rock styles, and the album is considered a classic of the genre. The tracks “Sometimes Ago” and „La Fiesta“ also showcase Corea’s passion for Latin American and Spanish music, which he vividly expressed in his 1976 double album My Spanish Heart.

Perhaps this also explains his enthusiasm for rhythmic experimentation, which he impressively presented in many of his compositions and improvisations.

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Pioneer

The 23-time Grammy winner knew no musical boundaries. He was very interested in classical music and was a great admirer of Mozart. In particular, Mozart’s improvisational talent—a skill considered essential for a composer in the 18th century—was admired by Chick Corea and connected him even more with the creative classical master.

In his blog, it is mentioned that Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor was one of his classical favorites, which is why he also performed it during some concerts of the ‘Vienna Mozart Year 2006’.

In his final message, in which he thanks his long-time companions among other things, he also appeals to his fans and music creators around the world to keep the musical flame burning.

“The world needs not only more artists, it’s also just a lot of fun.”

It couldn’t be put any better; nothing more needs to be added.

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About Jan Reinelt

Jan Reinelt studied trombone and jazz piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg. In addition to his work as a musical director, pianist/keyboardist, and arranger for artists such as Nevio and various theaters across Germany (e.g., Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Staatstheater Meiningen, Staatstheater Mainz, etc.), he is active as a lecturer at workshops (e.g., mainPOP Bandcamp), composer, and producer.

In addition to his engagements as a session musician for CD, TV, and radio productions, he is also regularly booked for tours as a keyboardist and arranger, and has briefly ventured into the author business with his book Die Goldene Klarinette.

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