Legendary Pianist Chick Corea Still Taking Bold Strides with Career

At an age when most people have already quietly slipped into retirement, Chick Corea, who turns 68 in June, has no interest whatsoever in idly standing by. The master pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and composer has not only been a travelling road warrior in recent years, but has also revved up his lifelong prolific artistry a notch or two.

As one of the most creatively restless and indefatigably imaginative jazz musicians, Corea defies easy categorization-equally at home in acoustic and electric settings, eager to find new ways of expression with old friends and quick to explore new partnerships with youthful adventure-seekers.

In the past two years alone, Corea has been tilling incredibly fertile soil. He reunited the seminal jazz-rock fusion band Return to Forever, with its classic lineup of Stanley Clarke on bass, Al Di Meola on guitar, and Lenny White on drums, for their first tour in 25 years. Hot on the heels of that triumph, he co-led a new ensemble, Five Peace Band, marking the first time he and guitarist John McLaughlin have joined forces in a group setting of their own fashioning (they both appeared together on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew album in 1969).

These two powerful accomplishments only scratch the surface of what Corea has been passionately engaged with in recent years. He creates, and he’s compelled to do more because, he says, he’s at his happiest when faced with new creative challenges.

“In my creative world, I still love pursuing things that are new and refreshing,” says Corea, who launched his recording career as a leader in 1966 with Tones for Joan’s Bones. “I like the audience to sense the challenge and risk that’s being taken in the act of improvisation. When that excitement of discovery is communicated through the music, I feel the goal has been achieved -at least for that moment.”

As for the variety of disparate projects Corea has been involved in recently, he notes that they all form different facets in his vision as an artist. “Each one has its own life based on the musicians I’m creating with,” he says. “I find it rewarding to make music with so many different and great musicians. It fulfills my desire to learn from them.”

Corea’s career has been rich and diverse. He collaborated with Miles, forged fusion explorations with Return to Forever, performed solo piano improvisations, composed children’s songs and formed new groups (such as his ‘80-90s Elektric and Akoustic bands) when his creative expression called for the gathering of new mates.

Today, Corea continues to create abundantly. “I see a lifetime of an artist as having two opposite vectors,” he says. “One is the pleasure of constantly learning and improving and expanding upon the art form. The other vector goes the other way, and that’s the body as it grows older. The body is born and is young with the vitality of youth, then it grows old, starts to decline then dies. Two opposing trends. The body just needs to be managed as well as possible, but the fertility [of creating] is fortunately all spiritual -and in this sense I feel creatively the best I’ve ever felt.”

For more information on the multi-faceted career of Chick Corea you can visit his website, chickcorea.com.

Source: (Smooth Jazz Network)

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