Jazz Articles about Chick Corea

Chick Corea: Originals & Standards

by Jim Santella
July 1, 2000

Recorded in November 1999, Chick Corea’s 2-CD solo piano set is a “best of" compilation, selected by the artist, from 10 concerts he performed in Europe and Japan on a whirlwind tour. Packaged separately, the two discs represent what Corea normally achieves in concert: one platter contains the pianist's originals, while the other contains standards by Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and others.

With one hand working in triple meter and the other hand simultaneously ...

Chick Corea & Origin: Change

by David Adler
September 1, 1999

If you dig Chick Corea but haven’t yet heard Origin, run — don’t walk — and pick up this record. And pick up their debut record from last year while you’re at it. It’s the most exciting stuff Chick has done in years. His bandmates in Origin are primarily young, up-and-coming, straight-ahead jazz musicians. And that’s refreshing. Origin’s music is not a mere showcase for hotshot soloists. Chick’s last acoustic jazz outing, his Bud Powell tribute band, was wonderful. But ...

Chick Corea and Origin: Change

by Jack Bowers
August 1, 1999

Chick Corea, who lost me somewhere between akoustic and elektric, has been gently coaxing me back into his orbit with a hard–blowing new sextet, Origin, and Change is, from this observer’s vantage point, the group’s most persuasive outing to date. Chick evidently put a lot of thought into this studio session, varying color, tempo, mood and instrumentation to ensure a tasteful and invigorating odyssey from start to finish. The result is more than an hour of exemplary mainstream Jazz during ...

Chick Corea & Origin: Change

by Jim Santella
July 1, 1999

Chick Corea uses more through-writing on his latest Origin album, and it works; partly because the composer succeeds in this area of artistic achievement, and partly because his sextet is so laden with talent. With Corea's compositions, you get an intricate painting that captures the details many artists overlook. His arrangements insure that the instrumental voices are working in the fashion intended, and there's still plenty of space left for the sextet's members to stretch out. Adding the marimba to ...

Chick Corea and Origin: A Week at the Blue Note

by Douglas Payne
March 1, 1999

Like his former boss, Miles Davis, pianist Chick Corea isn't comfortable in one place for too long. Nor, thankfully, does he seem to want to retread his own past. After a lengthy run of his Elektric/Akoustic band (1986-1993), a solo record, several all-star projects and a reunion with Gary Burton (1997's Native Sense ), Corea returns to the group concept with Origin, an interesting acoustic sextet fronted by two reed players (Bob Sheppard, Steve Wilson) and Steve Davis's ...

Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea: An Evening With Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea

by C. Michael Bailey
September 1, 1998

Pianoforte. Turning forty entitles the birthday person to a couple of acquired appreciations. One for good cigars and the second is for music listened to but not understood in adolescence. An Evening With Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea is just such music. I was sixteen and bored with Southern Rock and decided I would try jazz out. The first jazz disc I ever bought was Stanley Clarke's first record. Through Clarke I was introduced to Return to Forever and thus ...

Chick Corea and Origin: Live at the Blue Note

by Jack Bowers
July 1, 1998

One thing that must be said about Chick Corea: musically, the man does not stand still. Whether one is going in his direction is another issue altogether. Chick's newest group, Origin, was recorded during a week-long gig in December '97 at New York's celebrated Birdland nightspot. It's a tight sextet with an exuberant front line - saxophonists Bob Sheppard and Steve Wilson, trombonist Steve Davis - capably supported by Corea, bassist Cohen and drummer Cruz. The band opens the set ...