Devastated by Chick Corea’s passing. R.I.P. to a master. Full stop. I wrote a piece in ‘99 about the bond between Chick & Herbie Hancock, interviewing each separately talking about the other. I’d do some things differently today, but the core stands. https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/04/14/chick-corea-herbie-hancock-free-press/25802409/

I interviewed Chick many times. He was unfailingly warm & gracious. He was all about connecting — with musicians & audiences. He seemed to be EXACTLY the same person on & off stage. The last time we spoke in 2018, the topic was Detroiters past & present. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.freep.com/amp/1080391002

Chick’s debut as a leader in Detroit was this weekend stand at the Strata Concert Gallery in 1971. Chick flipped when I showed him this. He definitely remembered the gig and said this trio was ground zero for what morphed into Return to Forever.

Chick Corea at 18 or 19 From left to right: Pete Yellin, Chick, Bill Fitch, Noel Carter and Milford Graves. 1960 Jamaica, NY.

Chick in 1976 on the Downbeat Awards Show with Thad Jones, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Gary Burton, Sonny Fortune, Bill Watrous, Stanley Clarke. Chick had so much love and respect for Thad that he named his son Thaddeus after him. https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=2603&fbclid=IwAR2caqPboGm4MTkkGXAghxqvfU44rbMZf9nq9fjrhXgnZe-k0iZDsG_XLlo&v=r1v9qV1v4-c&feature=youtu.be

Amazing night: Chick Corea, solo, Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, metro Detroit, 4/11/18. 66 seats. Smallest venue he had played in 40 yrs? Set list: Someone to Watch Over Me/Waltz for Debbie/Pastime Paradise/Desafinado/Trinkle Tinkle/Blue Monk/The Yellow Nimbus/Spain

I'm not certain I would call the piano fill Chick plays behind the horns between 1:34 and 1:38 my favorite four seconds of music ever, but it's on the shortlist.

From 11/63, one of Chick's first recording sessions, still assimilating his influences. Lots of bebop & laying behind the beat (mature Chick is way more on top). He gets hung up a bit heading into the bridge, maybe the last time Chick flubbed on a record.

Coda: That's a helluva a solo by Thad Jones -- a lot expressive dissonance and a truly wild sequence in the bridge!

Chick Corea & Roy Haynes together created an iconic sound in jazz. Chick's pinging attack fit perfectly w/Roy's bouncing cymbal beat. It's like both players are on the same trampoline having a constant, joyful conversation of loose rhythm & accent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=132&v=29WR8prMC7M&feature=youtu.be

For an improviser who takes so many chances, who REALLY goes for it, Chick NEVER seems to make a mistake. His fingers never get tied up, he never has to restart or abandon an idea. The clarity of his thought, intent & execution is otherworldly.

Even in an era of great leader debuts, Chick's "Tones for Jones Bones" (1966) stands out. Couple that with his transcendent sophomore LP, "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs" (1968), and you have maybe the greatest 1-2 punch of first recordings in the post-war canon. Any comparables?

A deep cut to close out tonight. "Marjoun" from drummer Pete (La Roca) Sims' "Turkish Women at the Bath" (1967). Burning! Obviously a ton of McCoy Tyner in Chick's playing. It was just 11 months ago that we said goodbye to McCoy . Now Chick. Heavy sigh ...

Here's an interesting historical document: The @downbeat review of the formal debut of Return to Forever @vanguardjazz in Nov. 1971. The review appear in the 2/3/72 issue and the writer is Richard Seidel, who later became a jazz record producer.

Coda: The accompanying review of Cecil Taylor in Detroit written by Herb Boyd is tantalizing indeed. Alas I was hundreds of miles away in Bloomington, Ind., and also only 9 years old.

The bootleg tapes of Chick w/ Sarah Vaughan in Vegas, '68 are unbelievable. Chick throws all this abstract harmony at Sarah & she eats it up. Swings his ass off & even quotes Isotope on a blues. He's always making the gig -- but still playing w/his personality. NOTHING is by rote

A copy of these tapes used to be on YouTube but they've disappeared. I've never heard a quality dub. Does one exist? I wish these could see a commercial release. Truly revelatory. Herbie Mickman, b; Steve Schaeffe, d. When Chick joined MIles, a young Jan Hammer joined Sarah.

I assume this is in Chick’s hand.

Errata: Should be drummer Steve SCHAEFFER a couple tweets back.

Errata 2: Correct title of Chick's debut LP is, of course, "Tones for JOAN's Bones." Amusing coda: When Chick's trio last played Ann Arbor, I took Christian McBride to @Encore_Records and the clerks clerks put on "Tones For Joan's Bones" while we were there ...

... Since I knew the arrangement of Kurt Weill's "This is New" from this record was part of the the trio's repertoire, I asked Christian if they ever played the title track. He shook his head no and said: "We don't play the songs named for the first wife."

If I could only take one Chick Corea record to a desert island, I'd cheat and take a composite of side one of Toan's For Jones Bones ("Litha" & "This is New") and side one of Trio Music Live in Europe ("The Loop," "I Hear a Rhapsody," "Summer Night/Night and Day.")

New to me: Two commercial recordings of Chick/Miroslav/Roy I didn't know existed: "The Trio Live From the Country Club," '82, Reseda, Calif, issued in Japan, '96 on Chick's label Stretch. Available as download & streaming.

The second: Japanese only release of "Dream" (East World) label led by alto saxophonist Toshiyuki Honda with Chick/Miroslav, and Roy. One tune on YouTube. All I can figure is that somebody paid Chick and the cats some serious money to make the date.

You know, I would have preferred if Chick, Miroslav, and Roy had released a lot more recordings and Keith, Gary, and Jack had released a lot fewer. (And I LOVE the early Standards trio records.)

Chick & Lee Konitz died10 months apart. Other than one stray studio track, their only recording together dates to a 1981 concert at the Creative Music Studio, Woodstock, NY. They play duets on Round Midnight & Stella by Starlight. I prefer the former.

On RM, you can hear an interesting connection between Lee & Ornette Coleman -- pitch running sharp, intuitive, melodic paraphrasing, motivic development. On Stella, I think Chick way overplays, tho full 16-min track comes off better than 9-min edited version on the concert video,

Here's a fave: "Speak Low" from Joe Farrell's 1979 LP Skate Board Park. Great piano comping & solo. Best is the exuberant dialogue between Joe & Check in the tag, talking black & forth like Miles & Wynton. A slice of jazz purity at height of the fusion era