A Tribute to Chick Corea
The Brubeck family is saddened by the loss of American jazz composer, keyboardist, and visionary Chick Corea (June 12, 1941 - February 9, 2021).
Chris Brubeck wrote in his memorial tribute:
"The world lost a true musical giant this week when Chick Corea left us. He was an extraordinary pianist who created his own, immediately recognizable style of playing that gracefully intertwined with his compositional genius. I've always looked up to him for his exciting early acoustic trio recordings, 'Now He Sings Now He Sobs,' more electric excursions with Miles Davis and for creating his own brave new direction with his powerful quartet 'Return to Forever.' As a young rock-oriented musician, I remember going to an early concert of RTF and being blown away by their high-energy virtuosity that featured improvised jazz mastery, fused with the visceral power of rock.
"Chick never rested on his many laurels, always playing with different musicians and creating new directions. He was a true friend to the Brubeck family for many decades which grew out of his respect for my father's talents as a composer, pianist and also as an admirer of Dad's tremendous work ethic. Chick was immensely talented, highly disciplined and wrote 'classical' music as well as outstanding jazz tunes. In 1973 he authored the liner notes to our first recording as a family on Atlantic - 'Two Generations of Brubeck'. He went way out of his way to reroute a tour so he could perform a salute to Dad at the Dave Brubeck Memorial concert celebration at St. John the Divine in New York City in 2013.
"Over the decades there were many encounters with Chick and his wife, Gayle Moran and they were always so gracious to everyone in our family. Chick was a favorite pianist to all of us and was one of the most important musical voices in the entire history of jazz. We all will miss hearing where his muse would have taken him next. We will remain grateful for the tidal waves of excellent and innovative music he created while he was here on earth. Chick Corea changed jazz forever; my family and I were honored to have known him and will miss him and his creative light."
(Left to Right) Chick Corea, Dave Brubeck, Dr. Billy Taylor, and Herbie Hancock at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, late 1970s.