NOVA YORK É A CASA DE CHICK COREA

Corea’s New York ResidencyPosted 12/19/2011 Chick Corea, who turned 70 this year, celebrated his birthday with a monthlong residency at New York’s Blue Note in November. Corea spoke with DownBeat correspondent John Ephland about the event, which featured 10 different configurations of more than 40 performers. Tell us about the origins of your 70th-birthday Blue Note residency. The event I did in 2001 for my 60th birthday celebration at the Blue Note went so well that the management of the Blue Note suggested we do it again for my 70th—and this time four weeks long instead of the three weeks we did in ’01. How did you go about deciding whom to recruit for your performances? I had to approach the idea as a birthday party rather than a four-week “gig.” So I made a list of friends I thought might like to come and join me. The idea was to try to have two different groups each week, three nights each. So I quickly found out that even four weeks would be too short to include all the friends I’d like to come and play. But we figured that, schedule-wise, of course not everyone I invited would be free to make it. Happily, most everyone I wanted to participate was able to make it. It was pretty magical, in fact. As for the actual programs, how did you decide what selections to play? When everyone’s schedules were secured and I knew who would be coming and when, I began to write and call everyone to get their input on what they’d like to do. I also made up suggested set lists of songs and sent them to everyone for response. In this way, set lists came together and I began to find the sheet music that would be needed to prepare each group. That was the most time-consuming thing, really, the whole librarian function. Because I knew once we all knew what the program would be, everyone would come super-prepared. And that’s what happened. I was blown away by how prepared everyone was with the suggested sets. I was barely keeping up with each new configuration. But the amazing musicians who came to play pulled me through each time. Was there any music written especially for this residency? There weren’t any brand new compositions written especially for the event. I had just come off the road having played 70 shows around the world with RTF IV [the fourth edition of a Return To Forever reunion tour], and so had just enough time to put these preliminary set lists together. There were lots of new combinations and a lot of improvisation that was fresh and exciting to me. Were there any favorite moments you could share? There were just too many highlights to single any out … unless I ran through the whole 10 groups one by one. I feel so lucky and rich to have friends who are such genius artists and who continue to inspire me. I have long and wonderful music-making associations with Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, John McLaughlin, Jack DeJohnette, Eddie Gomez, Gary Burton, Gary Peacock, Gary Bartz, Bobby McFerrin and my wife, Gayle [Moran]. Also, Herbie Hancock and I go back to the mid-’60s and then our duet in the ’70s. This was the first time we played duet together since that time. Of course, all the members of the original Elektric Band—with Dave Weckl, John Patitucci, Frank Gambale and Eric Marienthal—and I traveled a lot on the road and made many recordings together. Wallace Roney, Kenny Garrett, Brian Blade, Jeff Ballard and myself also covered a lot of road together with various projects. I made music for the first time with Concha Buika and Marcus Roberts. And it was the first time that Gary [Burton] and I performed live with the Harlem String Quartet. And the three members of the “Flamenco Heart” band—Jorge Pardo, Carles Benavent and Nino Josele—came all the way from Spain! The four weeks were dreamlike. Magically, every show rolled off without a hitch. I’m still floating from the esthetics and exhilaration of the experience. (See the March issue of DownBeat for a full report on Chick Corea’s Blue Note residency.) DB Chick Corea (Photo: John Rogers)