Jazz

Chick Corea: “Alice in Wonderland” and “No Mystery”

Chick Corea – Amando Anthony Corea, to be precise – was born in Chelsea, MA in 1941. He is of southern Italian and Spanish descent. Corea is considered one of the major jazz influences of the 20th century. His signature band, Return to Forever, featured Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett.

It’s always interesting to look at musician’s influences and early gigs of musicians. Scott Yanow at AllMusic writes that Bud Powell and Horace Silver were influences. Wikipedia notes that Corea’s first major gig was with Cab Calloway. He also played with Herbie Mann, Mongo Santamaría and others.

Corea’s career seemed to hit high gear when he replaced Herbie Hancock on piano in Miles Davis’ band. He appeared on the landmark albums “In a Silent Way” and “Bitches Brew.” He was known as an avante garde player from 1968 to 1971. For the balance of the balance of the decade he helped pioneer the jazz fusion style that is associated with Return to Forever. The band used both acoustic and electric instruments and leaned away from rock and toward Latin rhythms, according to Wikipedia. Yanow does his usual thorough job of tracing the peripatetic Corea’s career, which still is going strong.

It is interesting to note that Corea is a Scientologist and had a long standing relationship with Scientologist founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Above is “Alice in Wonderland” (with Esperanza Spalding – who has a great smile – on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums). Below is “No Mystery,” with Stanley Clarke.

Wikipedia and AllMusic were used to write this post. Homepage image: PeterTea.

Our New Things: Links to Music Sites and Info on Analog Tech and Vinyl

TDMB has focused on music and musicians. We will continue to do that, of course. We're also expanding our coverage to include vinyl and analog equipment.

More specifically, we'll look at this huge and interesting world from the perspective of music lovers who want a better experience, not committed non-audiophiles.

Check out is some of what we've written so far:

-- Assessing the Value of Vinyl Records: An Overview

-- 7 Quick Tips on Optimizing Your Turntable Cartridge

-- Why Vinyl Records Continue to Thrive

-- Finding the Best Amplifier

-- Finding the Best Phono Preamp

-- What Speakers Do I Need for My Turntable?

Check out more articles on analog equipment and vinyl.

The site also is home to The Internet Music Mapping Project, an effort to list and describe as many music-related sites as possible.

Our Music

--A Tribe Called Quest to The Dick Hyman Trio (In other words, A to H)

--Indigo Girls to Queen Ida (I to Q)

--Radiohead to ZZ Top (R to Z)

Reading Music

The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.

Here are some books to check out.

Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.

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What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.

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The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").

David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.

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