18, 19 and 20 November on the Blue Note Jazz Club (NYC).

Chick Corea was born in 1941 in Massachusetts. From an early age, he worked with great players, such as Stan Getz and Herbie Mann. In 1968, he joined Miles Davis, eventually replacing Herbie Hancock on the keyboards. He worked with Davis during an important transition period for Davis, as he started incorporating electronic instruments and rock-fusion into his music. Corea played on many important Davis recordings, such as Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way, Live/Evil, and On the Corner.

He left Davis and started playing Avante Garde style jazz in the quartet Circle (with Anthony Braxton, Barry Altschul, and Dave Holland). In 1971, he changed directions, musically, again and formed his own group Return to Forever. They started off playing a jazz-Latin fusion, but he later changed sidemen and brought Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, and Al DiMeola, and they became a high-energy rock-fusion band.

Return to Forever broke up in the late Seventies, and Corea used the name when playing some big gigs with Clarke. During the early Eighties, Corea recorded with many different musicians, such as Roy Haynes, Michael Brecker, Miraslav Vitous, and Herbie Hancock.

In 1985, Corea formed another fusion band, The Elektrik band, featuring John Patitucci, Dave Weckl, and Frank Gambale. A few years later, he formed The Akoustic Band, a trio between himself, Weckl, and Patitucci. Patitucci left in the early 90s to headline his own groups, and Corea has used different players and has made more piano (versus electric keyboard) recordings.

Today, Corea continues to make a significant impact on the music scene, as evidenced by 2007’s Grammy-winning The Enchantment (duets with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck), 2008‘s The New Crystal Silence (duets with longstanding collaborator Gary Burton), 2009’s Returns (documenting Return to Forever’s 2008 reunion tour) and 2009’s Grammy-winning Five Peace Band Live (with John McLaughlin, Christian McBride, Kenny Garrett, and Vinnie Colaiuta). In addition, Corea toured Japan in 2010 with the trio Corea + McBride + Blade, and he kicked off January 2011 with a gala performance of his compositions with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Wynton Marsalis. A full slate of activities scheduled for the end of 2011 and into 2012 will surely keep this ever-evolving artist at the forefront of the jazz world and beyond.