Although Jazz music was created by African Americans
in the Southern part of the United States, it was not always popular and black
musicians had a rough time developing the music until they moved north to
Chicago and New York where they could play with diverse musicians to diverse
crowds.
The
development of the music was also helped by the advent of radio and the
proliferation of jazz clubs across the United States, but more importantly by
the fact that more black musicians were now able to play in white-owned clubs
in the north where they would meet their fellow musicians who were at times of
Italian origin, Irish origin, Spanish origin etc.
Music
is a natural phenomena and its values are universal. Jazz music is the umbrella
that covers all the different shades of music and is able to blend all our
musical experiences through improvisation and respect for individual
musicianship.
It
is all encompassing, very free and very democratic. There are many notable
white jazz musicians from the early days of jazz to the present and we will
feature more of them as we continue this exercise on jazz education.
Our
feature this week is about a jazz musician that is of Italian and Spanish
descent. His father was a jazz trumpeter who led a Dixieland band in the Boston
area in the 1930's and 40's; hence he was surrounded by Jazz music during his
childhood and was greatly influenced by the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie
Parker, Bud Powell, Horace Silver and Lester Young.
His
birth name is Armando Anthony Corea, but he is commonly known as 'Chick' Corea.
He was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA on June 11th 1941. His father
introduced him to the piano at the age of four and he developed his piano
skills by exploring music on his own, until he was eight when he started taking
piano lessons from a concert pianist called Salvatore Sullo.
As
a student of Sullo, he was introduced to classical music, which helped spark
his interest in musical composition. He spent several years performing with
local groups in the Chelsea area, but later moved to New York where he studied
music at Columbia University and Julliard School of Music.
He
found the academic aspect of music boring and disappointing and quit school to
pursue a professional career in music. Chick got his first major professional
job with Cab Calloway who was professional career in the 60's, playing with
trumpeter Blue Mitchell and Latin music greats such as Mongo Santamaria, Willie
Bobo & Herbie Mann.
While
working with Blue Mitchell's quintet, he composed and recorded his first song
called 'Chick's Tune', which highlighted his leanings towards Latin and swing
rhythms.
He
recorded his first album as a leader in 1966 entitled 'Tones for Joan's Bones'
and in 1968 he released another album called 'Now He Sings, Now He Sobs' with
Roy Haynes on drums and Miroslav Vitous on bass.
In
1967 Chick appeared as a sideman with Stan Getz on Getz's album - 'Sweet Rain'.
He was greatly influenced by bebop and had strong attraction towards
avant-garde jazz.
He
was a member of Miles Davis's band in the 60's and participated in the birth of
the electric jazz-fusion movement. However, he has been very versatile and
always willing to operate as a free agent, exploring different avenues of music
making throughout his career.
In
1968, he joined the Miles Davis Band and appeared on landmark albums such as
'Filles de Kilimanjaro', 'In A Silent Way' and 'Bitches Brew'.
He
appeared on a series of Miles's albums including 'Black Beauty', 'Live At
Fillmore West', 'Live At Fillmore East'.
Chick
also toured extensively with this band, which had Steven Grossman on tenor sax,
Keith Jarrett on additional electric piano and organ, Jack DeJohnette on drums,
Dave Holland on bass, Airto Moreira on percussion and Miles on trumpet.
He
left the band in 1970-71 and together with Dave Holland, they formed a new
group called - Circle, playing the brand of jazz known as free jazz. Between
1971 and 1972, Corea struck out on his own.
He
was known for his exceptional solo performance and play and would at times,
reach into the body of the piano and pluck the strings effecting a unique
sound.
Around
the same time, Chick was making a switch from avant-garde jazz to a crossover
jazz-fusion that incorporated Latin jazz elements. In 1971 he founded the band
- Return To Forever.
Read
more on: http://allafrica.com/stories/201110141313.html
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