Chick Corea has died

Chick Corea was a god.<p>I learned Spain on the bass in the hopes that one day I could play my meager rendition for him. In a concert at SFJazz he picked people out of the audience to paint their portraits with his piano. How lucky was I to be placed upon such a seat where Chick dismembered me with his eyes, eviscerating my soul upon a platter. He stared at me with the eyes of a musician who had searched heaven and hell for the most tempestuous chordal mixtures. The two minutes I spent in that seat where he painted my portrait with his keystrokes are some of the most treasured moments of my life. I felt like I had been seen, chewed up, devoured, and reincarnated as the everloving Chick Corea sycophant I had always known myself to be.<p>The man was a goddamn monster on the boards and we are all at a loss with his passing. Rest in Power Chick, you&#x27;re in my heart forever.

The night I turned 18 I was drinking with Chick Corea. It happened that in 1995 he had a classical music project involving some local orchestra musicians in Modena, Italy, where I was living at the time. One of the musicians was a friend of mine&#x27;s brother who invited me to the dress rehearsal in a renaissance villa. Concert was good.<p>After the concert, I got introduced to him and he asked me if I liked it. Shortly after I was drinking with him and others, and I turned 18 right there.<p>:)

I am a huge fan of Chick Corea; he is my favorite jazz pianist. I was saddened to hear this news this afternoon. My very first jazz album outside of smooth jazz was “My Spanish Heart,” which was my introduction to jazz fusion. I then discovered Return to Forever and the Elektric Band, and I also learned about Chick Corea’s post-bop work. Chick Corea’s music has been a mainstay in my life for the past 15 years. I love the playfulness of his piano playing and his compositions, which I feel is missing in a lot of music. He has helped inspire me to play: I received an electronic wind instrument (EWI) for Christmas that I’ve been practicing.<p>The jazz community lost a legend. RIP Chick Corea.

What a coincidence! I bought some of Corea&#x27;s records 20 years ago but hadn&#x27;t listened to them in a long time. But on the day of his death my 2-yo son pulled out one of them, and we listened to it. A recording of a concert he gave in 1978 together with Herbie Hancock [1]. They are playing like gods, absolutely breathtaking. Good starting point if you haven&#x27;t made contact with Corea&#x27;s work yet.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.discogs.com&#x2F;Herbie-Hancock-Chick-Corea-Herbie-Hancock-Chick-Corea&#x2F;release&#x2F;466670" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.discogs.com&#x2F;Herbie-Hancock-Chick-Corea-Herbie-Ha...</a>

Chick Corea had an awesome collaboration with Bela Fleck, producing such a fun mishmash of blue grass and jazz.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=s7BMtIG_3fg&amp;list=OLAK5uy_mU6yf17ru-ys0p7EDxZHSs16N1E0vgS-0" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=s7BMtIG_3fg&amp;list=OLAK5uy_mU6...</a><p>Combined with his stuff with Bobby McFerrin, he&#x27;s definitely someone that anyone curious about jazz should check out.

Fyi, ScriptSafe is showing that one of the blocked domains on this site is scientology.tv. Apparently Chick was a Scientologist.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.scientology.tv&#x2F;series&#x2F;staywell-concert&#x2F;artists&#x2F;chick-corea.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.scientology.tv&#x2F;series&#x2F;staywell-concert&#x2F;artists&#x2F;c...</a>

Chick has been my favorite since I began playing jazz in High School 20 years ago. Endlessly creative and a masterful player up until his last day. Since the pandemic started I&#x27;ve been watching him stream on IG and YT. He never lost a note and was always exploring new composers, techniques, and ways to expand his musical world. An absolute wonder and inspiration.<p>I never imagined that this story would be on the front page of HN. It&#x27;s like seeing two of my worlds collide out of nowhere.

Chick Corea was my gateway drug to jazz as a teenager, after my guitar teacher gave me Spain to practice.<p>A lot of musicians have the playing chops but few do truly interesting and original work as composers. Chick Corea was one of those.<p>Some of my favorite tracks, off the top of my head: Spain, Captain Marvel, Armando&#x27;s Rumba, Sicily, Samba L.A., The Slide, Leprechaun&#x27;s Dream, North Africa, Eternal Child, Tumba Island, Got A Match, Charged Particles.<p>The last track has some special significance to me since I listened to it repeatedly to pump myself up for a big life decision.<p>Plus, I have fond memories driving my parents crazy on roadtrips by playing &quot;that crazy music&quot; (= either Chick Corea or video game soundtracks) in the car.

I don’t know if these videos will still be on his Facebook page, but sometime in the last year or so he did a series of livestream events where he would practice or teach. I knew I loved his playing, but I had no idea what a kind and gentle mentor type he was until then.<p>If you like his music, go look for those videos (COVID era).<p>As for his music, it’s hard to pick a favorite; his duo album with Bobby McFerrin is my favorite.

Jazz musician&#x2F;educator Dave Frank did a Chick Corea &quot;Masterclass&quot; video in honor of Chick, which you can view here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=lF8V7iTWuzY" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=lF8V7iTWuzY</a><p>A lot of it is technical, won&#x27;t be comprehensible to non-musicians, but lots of interesting stuff.

Chick Corea was the unknowing instigator of rebellion from the jazz of my father and the beginning of a broader embrace of jazz.<p>I saw Chick twice - once in 80s and then again a few years ago.<p>The night of his death I was playing selected tunes to my wife, trying to explain his significance to me. She said, &quot;Rachmaninoff... don&#x27;t you hear Rachmaninoff in that?&quot; [ I repeated the anecdote about Art Tatum. ]<p>Finished my set with the Miles Davis concert on the Isle of Man, the last concert before Chick left that band.<p>Amazing musician. Great to see so many here touched in the same way.

I posted this on Facebook right after I read the news (a few hours before the HN story):<p>RIP Chick Corea. When I was 18, graduating as a wanna-be-wanky musician from rock and blues, I kind of knew jazz was a thing I was supposed to grow into. I bought a crappy $5 jazz sampler CD. (This was 1998, so that&#x27;s how you discovered things.) The only thing I can remember blowing my mind was a solo piano piece from Chick Corea. I&#x27;d never heard harmony like that. Sadly, I don&#x27;t remember piece it was. But Chick Corea was the bridge for me between my musical childhood and adulthood. The next album I bought, was &quot;Where Have I Known You Before&quot; from his fusion band, &quot;Return to Forever&quot;. I still remember the names of everyone in the band: Chick Corea (piano and synth), Stanley Clark (bass), Al Di Meola (guitar), Lenny White (drums). Literally every member of the band was at a level of technical virtuosity I&#x27;d never heard, but more importantly, it was my introduction to jazz harmony. Here&#x27;s the first song from that album in full 70s fusion cheesiness:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=RycYchunTKc" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=RycYchunTKc</a>

My absolute favorite jazz musician. After years of trying to learn &quot;classical&quot; piano, a new teacher introduced me to jazz. Crystal Silence was my favorite piece. Later I discovered more of his works. His concert with Bobby Mcferrin is one of my absolute favorite recordings.<p>So long, Chick, and thanks for the music.

I had no idea this would be such big news on HN. Chick is one of those musicians who plugged straight into my brain. Saw him live with Origin and remember being awestruck both at the music that was happening, as well as the fact that Chick wasn’t going to let his best days be in his past.

Today&#x27;s playlist was:<p>- Now He Sings, Now He Sobs<p>- Captain Marvel (w&#x2F; Stan Getz)<p>- Chick Corea Plays (a live album released last September)<p>Corea has so many great albums, both as leader and as sideman, that it&#x27;s entirely unfair to name only those three. But... that&#x27;s where inspiration and available time took me.

RIP Chick. Will be listening to this today<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;0Epv4Zk6stQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;0Epv4Zk6stQ</a><p>Chick was running the online Chick Corea Academy recently, and now it makes sense why he was so keen on sharing his gift and wisdom while it was still possible.<p>His music touched many people, and being on the front page of HN is testament to that.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.facebook.com&#x2F;watch&#x2F;?v=282682193144858" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.facebook.com&#x2F;watch&#x2F;?v=282682193144858</a>

My wife and I saw him perform a concert at Davies Concert Hall not too long before covid hit. One of my favorite parts was when he described the holidays in his house growing up. He and his siblings would sit at the piano in pairs and improvise songs together. He then pulled up a volunteer from the crowd and improvised a song with them. (Twice, actually, with two different volunteers.) They were both really, really good and the whole thing was just so much fun.

In his last time he had many videos and livestream events on YouTube where a master would share his wisdom to the aspiring people. I always postponed or procrastinated on this, where always there would pop up something “more important” to do instead and where I’d tell myself “I’ll just participate next time”.<p>But there won’t be a next time anymore. Chances slid through one’s finger like sand and there will be no next time. It’s your fault to not seize them.<p>May this great artist rest in piece.

I&#x27;m a lifelong fan but I&#x27;m really surprised to see the video on his website was made and created by Scientology. What&#x27;s that about?

I am so sad I will never see Chick perform live again, but mostly I&#x27;m sad the world has lost such a genuine, kind, decent, man and great artist who brought light to the world.<p>The first time I saw him live at Yoshi&#x27;s he performed with a combo of young musicians and you could see by the interactions on stage a deep mentor&#x2F;mentee bond between them.<p>Twice at Weyl Hall with Bela Fleck. Aside: you should take the opportunity to enjoy live performance here when life returns to normal. The first time Chick and Bela both expressed wonder at what a great venue this is. Some are calling it the Carnegie Hall of the west coast.<p>In Santa Barbara with Herbie Hancock everything about that performance of two real artistic geniuses was amazing. (A very overused word today, but in this case appropriate.) Their opening piece started out with avant-garde chaos which gradually morphed into extraordinary beauty. The rest of the show built on that, ending with an audience participation rendition of Spain.<p>RIP

I saw Chick Corea play a concert at Berkeley with Bella Fleck (a banjoist!) in like 2013. It was an utterly unique experience and I have had a soft spot for Chick Corea ever since. He will be missed!<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=5G3BSmEX4_w" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=5G3BSmEX4_w</a>

I thought he would go on for at least a decade more the way he still looked and given his energy; what a shame (and fuck cancer). If you don&#x27;t know his music, it&#x27;s well worth exploring. I found The Mad Hatter in the record cupboard of my parents when I was very young and liked it instantly.

The way he wrote about playing in a group spoke volumes about how great he was at improvising and piano.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;k1K7D3j" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;k1K7D3j</a><p>Showing that much restraint and not just letting muscle memory take over to become a lick machine is so impressive.

I&#x27;ve never heard of him even though he seems like such a legend. So I tried searching on Youtube and found a few tracks: Spain, Armado&#x27;s Rhumba, You&#x27;re everything, and Besama mama. Liked the last one a lot. I&#x27;ve never listen to jazz music before, but I&#x27;m starting today.

King of comp. Always brought out the best from musicians in a band. Henderson here, but Gambale and plethora of others. RIP, legend! <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=UL13lJAz_wc" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=UL13lJAz_wc</a>

I only just discovered Chick Corea THIS WEEK. Upsetting to hear. His music is great. I&#x27;m not one to listen to jazz, but found him as a suggestion off of Hiromi Uehara whom he apparently mentored. Wonderful music. The way he talks was oddly calming as well.

Chick Corea is such an excellent introduction&#x2F;addition to jazz and jazz fusion libraries. If you like Snarky Puppy, Chick Corea was a huge part of their inspiration. He was a musical genius and his soul will live on in jazz forever

I discovered Chick&#x27;s &quot;Children&#x27;s Songs&quot; about six months ago, ordered the book of music, and have been playing them joyfully since. It&#x27;s a series of 20-ish little compositions for solo piano, each very short (1-2 minutes). They are amazing gems. You can find Chick playing them on YouTube. I&#x27;ve been wanting to record them to introduce my grandkids to playing the piano. Now they will have even more poignancy for me.

I&#x27;ve seen him playing for a few hours not that long ago. If you wouldn&#x27;t have known it was a Chick Corea concert and he introduced a few things from now and then you wouldn&#x27;t have guessed he was the main attraction of the show. The other players were at the same level as he was and took as much time doing solos as him.<p>It almost looked as the simply enjoyed being able to play every night with the best people he could find. Zero ego on stage.

Spain is one of my favorite jazz tunes: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;sEhQTjgoTdU" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;sEhQTjgoTdU</a>

We&#x27;ll miss Chick. A masterful performer, composer, and collaborator.<p>There are so many relatively unknown artists that are also exploring like Chick did. For example, I highly recommend checking out a composer named Maria Schneider. Like Chick, she has a way of interweaving composed classical style piano with improvisational jazz. I&#x27;m going to see if I can find examples of Chick playing any of her tunes.

This is a great sadness to me. I&#x27;m a jazz pianist (not a hobby, but not a profession), and so much of the feel&#x2F;sound that I learned, I learned from him. He was—without exception—the GOAT. I was just listening yesterday to some improvisation courses he taught on YouTube in 2016. I&#x27;m so glad he left us so much. But his voice will be missed.<p>There&#x27;s no one like him.

If you&#x27;re revisiting Chick&#x27;s music due to this event or learning of him for the first time, here&#x27;s a duet that may introduce you to another electrifying pianist, Hiromi Uehara: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=BRU1o-sCnqY" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=BRU1o-sCnqY</a>

Chick Corea&#x27;s gadget bag [2014]<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usatoday.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;tech&#x2F;columnist&#x2F;talkingtech&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;28&#x2F;chick-corea-packs-many-devices-for-tour&#x2F;15684263&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usatoday.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;tech&#x2F;columnist&#x2F;talkingtech&#x2F;20...</a>

&quot;Romantic Warrior&quot; with Return to Forever is one of my favorite jazz fusion albums. The title track was the first piece I thought of when I heard about the sad news:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Ta6dED32tL8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Ta6dED32tL8</a><p>The climax builds up from 7:20.

Was at a performance 20 years or so ago in Santa Barbara, wanted to go see him next month in Luxembourg. RIP.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.philharmonie.lu&#x2F;en&#x2F;programm&#x2F;chick-corea-vigilette&#x2F;2922" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.philharmonie.lu&#x2F;en&#x2F;programm&#x2F;chick-corea-vigilett...</a>

He left a huge mark on me--I literally have an excerpt from 500 miles high tattooed on my forearm. Chick&#x27;s work with Return to Forever made me __love__ jazz which led to so many more discoveries. You bet you&#x27;ll be missed, Chick! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful compositions with the world.

He plays on one of my favorite albums, Like Minds.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtube.com&#x2F;playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ms-PRDnEUGK1o3ncDcURd0MrMKQRGvJ6A" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtube.com&#x2F;playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ms-PRDnEUGK1o3ncDc...</a><p>Check out the 2:55 mark of Like Minds (the song) for a nice piano solo.

One of my first jazz albums was Time Warp. Little did I know that it would remain one of my favorite blends of classical and jazz. I recommend listening to the whole album, start to finish. Play it on a good pair of headphones or speakers.

Morning Sprite is such an invigorating song, especially, the last minute. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=PUBQrlWhqZo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=PUBQrlWhqZo</a>

Chick was a musical idol for so many Jazz pianists. Here he is playing with arguably the greatest (now) living, Hiromi:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;s11ER546zBM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;s11ER546zBM</a>

A song of his came on the radio today. I thought wow, haven&#x27;t heard that name in a while. Good memories from my youth... I grew up in a house of musicians. Now I know why. :-(

I remember seeing him in concert. At the end of the concert the band members ran around switching instruments, having fun. Corea could hold his own no matter where he was in the band.

Fucking cancer, when will the science beat it once and forever?

Rick Beato made an awesome tribute video <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;4LHuv0I-qbA" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;4LHuv0I-qbA</a>

Seeing him perform live on stage in Leverkusen a decade ago was unforgettable. The calm songs with Flora Purim are one of my favorites to chill out to.

Mind sharing tracks&#x2F;playlist (available in Spotify or Youtube) to a total stranger to Chick Corea?

It&#x27;s refreshing and somehow comes off as more respectful to me that this death wasn&#x27;t announced via Twitter.

Every since I discovered him in high school, I&#x27;ve been trying to play even a little bit like him. RIP.

I was really saddened to hear this. I&#x27;ve always loved his music, and I didn&#x27;t know he was ill.<p>He will be missed.

I didn&#x27;t expect to see this post on HN, I am also a big fan of his work. It&#x27;s a sad day.

There was only one first time to hear “Return to Forever”, and it was a trip

What&#x27;s the best free jazz these days and in previous days?

Rest in peace Maestro

May he rest in peace

What on earth is going on with this website?<p>I can’t even read it; every time I zoom in it resized itself to make the text smaller.<p>Can someone paste the full text or link to a plain text version of the announcement?

Rest In Peace to a true LEGEND Chick Corea.

damn.. corea and john prine.. not a good 12 mos for these legendary old timers... :(

Rest in peace legend

That is SAD. We will miss Chick and his music.

We observe the death of that iconic 80s late-night TV talk show title card music sound.

I wonder how he got his last name from?