Where does a composer with more Grammy awards than Stevie Wonder actually keep the damn things?
Hidden, apparently. That’s according to Chick Corea, who took home his first golden gramophone in 1976 thanks to the effort that his group — Return To Forever — put into a groundbreaking 1975 jazz-fusion album, No Mystery. Corea, now 76 years old, would go on to win 21 more Grammys (plus two Latin Grammys) to bring his haul to a cool two dozen. He doesn’t really have too much time to think about the hardware, though.
“We don’t have ‘em hung around,” he told CL in a phone interview. “They’re nice accolades, but we keep ‘em in storage, pretty much.”
Corea — who was checking in in advance of two rare Akoustic Band shows at Saint Petersburg College — is actually busy spending his days planning for an upcoming year that’s supposed to be full of business meetings, solo piano tour dates, compositions for other bands and plenty of time to write music for his new trio with bassist Carlitos Del Puerto and drummer Marcus Gilmore. In March and April he’ll fill in for Wynton Marsalis, who is taking a break from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. But Corea is also writing tunes for his old friends Dave Weckl and John Patitucci, who are playing drums and bass in the aforementioned Akoustic Band — and the first order of business is to get the two St. Petersburg shows on tape for an in-depth documentary.
Q&A
Chick Corea on his regrets, Grammys, future plans and more
“We’re filming everything. The set-up, both shows and we’re recording it all for a live package,” Corea said. The former Juilliard student is hoping to capture the magic that happens when the line between composition and improvisation gets blurred to dizzying effect, but all he’s really after is moments of pleasure when he’s doing the thing he loves with some guys he’s known forever.
“We put the trio together in ‘82, so we have a rapport and we’re fast friends again when we reconnect, so now the game is to challenge each other into creating something new.”
And if that doesn’t work, Corea — who was literally mentored by Monk and Miles and figuratively guided by Bach and Mozart — will just tell some jokes.
“A grasshopper walks into a bar, bartender asks him what he wants to drink, but the grasshopper says he has think about it” he said, setting us up a quip he stole from Return to Forever bandmate Steve Gadd. “Bartender says, ‘You know we have a drink named after you.’ To which the grasshopper says, ‘Really? You have a drink named Steve?’”
It’s a groaner, but Corea knows it lightens things up for the fans who’ve supported him for nearly half a century now.
“My purpose onstage is to make people smile,” he said. “You know, inspire them, let people throw their troubles away for a bit. Plus I’ll be honored to create my own music and have them listen to it.”
Read our full Q&A here. Get more information on the show below.
This article appears in Jan 11-18, 2018.