RIP Chick Corea - Haiku - And an Introduction to the Piece That Placed Him Firmly on My Own Jazz Radar

in #music3 years ago (edited)

Jazz is sad today
RIP Chick Corea
Master of the game

I was greatly saddened when Marek told me today of the passing of jazz great Chick Corea, the incredible pianist who pushed the limits of jazz with each and every performance he gave, who played with other greats such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock (whom he replaced in Davis' group in 1968), among many others.

Then again, I was heartened and pleased when he quipped that Corea had indeed "returned to forever," giving clear homage to the highly influential jazz fusion group "Return to Forever" that Corea founded in 1971, and which helped launch the careers of jazz artists as diverse as bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Al Di Meola, Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim, and French electric violinist Jean-Luc Ponty.

He stayed vibrant and active until the end, releasing the double album "Plays" last year, which was a compilation of various concert performances with Corea on solo piano.

As stated in the release by the Associated Press, "Corea is the artist with the most jazz Grammys in the show's 63-year history, and he has a chance to posthumously win at the March 14 show, where he's nominated for best improvised jazz solo for 'All Blues' and best jazz instrumental album for 'Trilogy 2.'"

Personally, and with the caveat that I don't even know what he's up against in either category, I'm pulling for him to win both Grammys, and bring it to a solid 25.

RIP Chick Corea; you will be greatly missed. Godspeed in your own Return to Forever.

I'd also like to kick myself, because I had a chance to sign up for the initial masterclass when he originally founded The Chick Corea Academy, but put it off, mostly due to a lack of time.

Lesson learned: when a jazz master gives a masterclass, MAKE THE DAMNED TIME. Of course, the Academy is still around, and as their courses are almost exclusively on video, I am assuming they will still be available; but how much more special it would have been to take them while he was still alive. Damn and double damn.

As many of you know, my dad was a jazz pianist, and my mother was a classical pianist, so we grew up surrounded by a wide variety of music in our home; so I was familiar with Chick Corea by name from a fairly early age. I'm not certain, however, whether if asked, I could have accurately pointed to any of his own works at the time.

But I remember well the day when he came onto my personal musical radar.

I was on my way to work, traveling south on the 405 freeway, or more accurately the "405 parking lot" as my family and I often referred to it, and listening as I often did to our local L.A. jazz station, KKGO; which, at the time, was the Number 1 jazz station in the country, and for good reason. They had phenomenal programming standards.

And I remember being a bit nonplussed when, shortly before arriving at work, Ravel's "Bolero" began to play, and wondering to myself why on earth our jazz station was suddenly playing a classical piece . . . I even checked the radio dial, to make certain that I hadn't accidentally switched over to KFAC, our local classical station. But then KFAC was on AM, and KKGO was on FM, so that was unlikely at best.

And then it happened . . . the sudden ERUPTION of Chick Corea's absolute wailing on the piano, in a virtuoso performance that electrified me, and still does to this day; followed by the cool smooth jazz artistry of Hubert Laws' flute, and then building to the final rousing crescendo of the orchestra.

Upon arriving at work, I parked and finished listening to the piece before going inside, as there was NO WAY IN HELL that I was going to voluntarily end that masterpiece early. And it still leaves me feeling that way to this day.

Then, upon leaving work that afternoon, my very first stop was my favorite record store, where I bought two copies of the LP: one for myself, and one for my dad. He had recently retired to Florida, and I knew that he was busy enough getting settled that he probably hadn't picked up the album as yet, if he was even aware of its release.

Bonus: the entire album is great.

In any case, do yourself a favor and listen to the piece above, which is the album cut of "Bolero," by Hubert Laws, from his wonderful album "Family," featuring the great Chick Corea performing what is probably my favorite jazz piano solo of all time.

You won't be sorry.

Okay, in an odd turn of events, my roosters just started a crowing contest, and it's 11:05 PM, and currently 34 degrees. Perhaps they're trying to compete for my attention with Chick Corea's piano solo, lol!

In any case, you're going to be hearing from me more frequently once again, as I am taking up the mantle once more of a 30-Day Haiku Challenge with myself, since @brokemancode's original 30-Day Haiku Challenge set me on the path to writing not just a haiku, but an entire post, for well over two years, with few days missed.

My brain switches into poetry mode quite easily and fluidly, and as I found writing haiku to be a great writing prompt in the past, I've decided to take it back up again going forward, and go back to daily posts. You're all welcome to come along for the ride. ;-)

And yeah, I know my banners are WAY out of date, but I'll work on getting them all updated over the next week or two.

Love Y'all.

Thanks for hanging in there with me, even while I was AWOL.

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Oh I hadn’t heard about his passing. A sad day indeed! I came across your post as I’m shutting my eyes for the night but will commit to listening to Bolero tomorrow.

Let me know what you thought of it, whether hearing it after a long absence, or for the first time.

I noted immediately that the piece leaves me every bit as moved today as it did on that first day I heard it, dare I say it? Some forty years ago. Doesn't even seem possible.

It really is an incredible piece. Small world story... my late brother-in-law was his sound manager for some time back in the 1970's. My sister is in touch now with friends all over the world about Chick's passing.

Awesome you are back.. and yeah, take the masterclass..

PS Step 2.. replace the Nat Med Steem banner with the HIVE one.. 😭😂😂😂

Lolol, will do . . . where can I find the Hive one?

And yes, I have too much going on right at the moment, but I will definitely be taking his masterclass. Too good to pass up.

Interestingly too, @riverflows, I'm still showing up as a Guest In Natural Medicine, not as a member.

Thanks for letting me know, very sad to hear the news. I met Al Jarreau and sang with him on French TV in 2009, we both agreed that Chick Corea changed the game and that Spain was a masterpiece. Very nice tribute

Okay, I'm seriously envious, as I'd love to have simply MET Al Jarreau, who has long been a favorite artist of mine. What a fabulous experience that must have been.

And, though I knew his music before, it was indeed his album "This Time," which features his masterful take on Corea's "Spain," that made me fall completely in love with his style and delivery.

And I LOVE his lyrics to Spain; the moment my dad gave me the album, I set about learning the piece, and sang along with it virtually every time I heard it played.

Funny, too, I was thinking last night that I should have included that in my homage to Chick Corea, because that song meant so much to me at the time, particularly Jarreau's version. Gorgeous, gorgeous piece of work.

Thanks so much for your comment, @edprivat, as it is lovely to hear these stories of our musical heroes.

Have a lovely time moving forward.

Thanks @crescendoofpeace 😁 I was just lucky to do that TV show and sung with many more Icons like Tom Jones, Akon, or Rihanna, but by far my day with Al Jarreau was something so special.

Maybe one day I will write a post about it, as it really changed me. At the same time I don't know if I want to share it to the world, because then it won't belong to me anymore. Hahaha that'a weird conflicting feeling.

The day of the rehearsal, I had the time to tell him everything I felt about music, his music to me as I studied it in on my private time and a little bit at music school also. Everything was filmed of course, and they made it look like a sort of a surprise as they knew I was a long time fan.

He played his best songs on a CD player, I sung by heart the solo on Agua de Beber and made him laugh. I made him a hot chocolate (for some reason I was losing my mind for a long time about this) and was THE ULTIMATE FAN.

At the time I was barely 23 and he couldn't believe someone "that young" was still interested in jazz the way I did. It was 10 years ago, way before Jacob Collier was famous, way before the revival of jazz with Snark Puppy.

I kept writing emails to his managing team, they always responded with courtesy that they have printed my emails and read them out loud to him as he was getting weaker to do so. At the time I was a nobody and he had no reason to even be remotely interested in my life and always asked kind questions, knew who Edouard was.

Al Jarreau knew me!!! Can you believe it?

That's too cool.

He always had the reputation for being an exceptionally nice and decent human being, so I'm happy that he treated you well, but not surprised.

Of course, I would have sung Spain for him and REALLY made him laugh. ;-) Hopefully I wouldn't have flubbed it too badly.

He always had the reputation for being an exceptionally nice and decent human being, so I'm happy that he treated you well, but not surprised.

Yep it felt like speaking to an old friend 😄

Of course, I would have sung Spain for him and REALLY made him laugh. ;-) Hopefully I wouldn't have flubbed it too badly.

Haha it's not the easiest one neither, I am sure you would have nailed it ^^

Thanks for the vote of confidence, @edprivat, I definitely spent a LOT of time working on getting the lyrics and timing down.

Who knows? I may have to take it up again. I SO love that song! ;-)

Yeah me too, please let me know if you post a recording 😁

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