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Chick Corea has died

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Re: Chick Corea has died

#141

Post by harveywi »

josh2600 wrote: post #30
Softcadbury wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the story. Sorry, I know nothing about music, how do you paint someone's portrait with a piano? He was able to create a music based on a person?

Chick asked me to sit in a chair a couple feet away from his piano. He stared at me with the a look that seemed to say "whatever you've got, I'll work with it." If I had to imagine how I looked back at him in that moment it would've been the simulacrum of wanderlust and kummerspeck (German for grief bacon). It felt like I was being channeled by a ghost and the chords matched my facade like icing on a cake. Chick play…

> Chick asked me to sit in a chair a couple feet away from his piano. He stared at me with the a look that seemed to say "whatever you've got, I'll work with it." If I had to imagine how I looked back at him in that moment it would've been the simulacrum of a mathematical model of computation that defines an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. It felt like I was being imitated, state by state, symbol by symbol, my inner-most thoughts understood but unspoken as my utterances were scribbled onto the infinite tape.

> I was also a newly married man who had gained some weight.

> As Chick tickled the ivories, he whispered, "I shall call the song of your life 'The Imitation Game'."

> A moment later, he whispered my name. I do not recall me telling him my name.

> "I wrote this for you, Benedict Kummerspeck," whispered Chick.

Re: Chick Corea has died

#142

Post by jackfoxy »

linguae wrote: post #24
mindfulplay wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had previously no idea who he was. Having listened to his music, I now understand how good he is/was and this was a gentle introduction to this genre. Are there good jazz piano/jazz albums to listen to that people might recommend? (By him or others)

Disclaimer: My favorite subgenres of jazz are fusion and post-bop. A wonderful, accessible jazz album that I highly recommend for newcomers is saxophonist Michael Brecker's 1987 self-titled album, which was his first album as a band leader (though by this point he had already been a highly prolific session player). There is some great piano playing on this album. I consider Michael Brecker one of the greatest saxopho…

I noticed a lot of the MSM eulogies focus on Chick being a pioneer of fusion, which is true, but only one of many of his musical facets.

Re: Chick Corea has died

#143

Post by benzible »

Jeaye wrote: post #4

Chick Corea had an awesome collaboration with Bela Fleck, producing such a fun mishmash of blue grass and jazz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7BMtIG_3fg&list=OLAK5uy_mU6... Combined with his stuff with Bobby McFerrin, he's definitely someone that anyone curious about jazz should check out.

Bela's cover of Spain is excellent as well: https://youtu.be/5Z7_iEjhBpU This is a live Flecktones version but he started playing it in his pre-Flecktones days and recorded it for his first solo album.

Re: Chick Corea has died

#146

Post by dansomething »

hartem_ wrote: post #64

Rick Beato made an awesome tribute video https://youtu.be/4LHuv0I-qbA

There's a great quote from Tom Mendola in the comments section of Rick's video.

"Thanks for doing this. Chick’s mother told me that when he was a child she would strip his bed sheets to wash them. She would find music written in pencil on the bed sheet. He was supposed to be sleeping but his mind was always in music. As amazing as he was as a musician/composer he was a wonderful person, loving father and a true friend. I will miss him."

Re: Chick Corea has died

#147

Post by anaerobicover »

TurboHaskal wrote: post #47
brtkdotse wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was, and quite a prominent one as well. While it low-key bugs me, I decided I won’t let it destroy the beauty of his art for me. In general, it’s better not to dig into the personal lives of people you look up to, because chances are we’re attributing all sorts of virtues to them based on their work, while they’re - just like all of us - humans with flaws and dark nooks. John Lennon, for example, beat his first wi…

It doesn't surprise me much. I knew nothing about the guy, but watched the one hour video that is hosted in his website, and it seems as if he couldn't really explain what music is, nor how he produced it, in an intelligible way. As talented as he was, my early impression is that he didn't possess a very rational mind.

Magnificent musical skills are rare; strong verbal ability is also rare; the combination must be even more rare. Not everybody who's good at doing something is good at explaining it.

Or, as it's been put by other artists with a bit of pith:

"If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it." -- Isadora Duncan

"Talking about art is like dancing about architecture." -- Laurie Anderson

Re: Chick Corea has died

#148

Post by phreeza »

josh2600 wrote: post #8

Chick Corea was a god. 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 hel…

Isn't that 'thousand mile stare' often attributed to scientologists? Did this happen after his conversion?

Re: Chick Corea has died

#149

Post by erichmond »

tmalsburg2 wrote: post #87

What a coincidence! I bought some of Corea's records 20 years ago but hadn'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't made contact with Corea's work yet. [1] https://www.discogs.…

I have this on CD. Their version of La Fiesta is one of the most joyous things every recorded.

Re: Chick Corea has died

#150

Post by ende »

Jeaye wrote: post #4

Chick Corea had an awesome collaboration with Bela Fleck, producing such a fun mishmash of blue grass and jazz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7BMtIG_3fg&list=OLAK5uy_mU6... Combined with his stuff with Bobby McFerrin, he's definitely someone that anyone curious about jazz should check out.

Didn’t Corea and Fleck also do something along those lines with a third person? I remember the name “Trio”. Can’t remember who the third was though.. maybe Jean Luc Ponty or Stanley Clark?
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