Artist:Chick Corea
Song:The Hilltop
Album:My Spanish Heart
Pianist Chick Corea is one of the most significant jazz musicians of the latter half of the 20th century. He plays many different styles but is best known for his fusion music of the 70s. He was born Armando Anthony Corea June 12, 1941 in Chelsea, MA. He is Latino but his primary musical influences were Bud Powell & Horace Silver. He started out in the early 60s with Mongo Santamaria & Stan Getz among others. By the late 60s he had replaced Herbie Hancock in the Miles Davis band and Miles encouraged Corea to take up the electric piano & synthesizer. After helping Miles create fusion music, Corea formed Return To Forever in 1971. It was originally supposed to be a Brazilian flavoured group featuring percussionist Airto Moreira and his singer wife Flora Purim but they left and Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke turned the group into a fusion band. Meanwhile Corea continued to record solo albums. 1976's My Spanish Heart is one of Corea's best records. He uses synthesizers, strings, horns, the vocals of Gayle Moran along with a great rhythm section with Clarke, Steve Gadd on drums and Don Alias on percussion. Verve rereleased a remastered version in 2000 and it's well worth getting. Corea continues to record great music. His latest CD was released in May. It's called The Enchantment and features banjo player Bela Fleck. Chick Corea has had a very productive career and I'll probably look at his music again in the future. Here's Chick Corea with Gayle Moran, Al Jarreau & Gary Burton performing Spain on a PBS TV show in 1979.
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