December 20, 2005
Chick Corea, one of jazz’s most creative and brilliant keyboardists, will perform with his band Touchstone at UCSB Campbell Hall
Summary Facts:
- Chick Corea & Touchstone
- Chick Corea is one of the greatest living jazz keyboardists
- He has received 47 Grammy nominations in his four decade career
- Corea was recently named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master
- Tuesday, February 7 / 8 pm
- UCSB Campbell Hall
- General public: $60 / UCSB students: $25 (limited availability)
- $100 VIP ticket includes post-show reception with the artists
- Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535
Pioneering keyboardist Chick Corea, nominated for 47 Grammys in his four-decade career, will perform with Touchstone on Tuesday, February 7 at 8 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Corea has played with a who’s who of jazz greats, including Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Roy Haynes and Bobby McFerrin. With the core members of Paco de Lucia’s band, Corea will revisit his Spanish-influenced compositions with this innovative quintet. Corea and his band play with a passion, finesse and virtuosity that expand the horizons of jazz. The All Music Guide calls Corea “one of the most significant jazzmen since the ’60s...his musical curiosity has never dimmed.”
Touchstone features Corea playing piano with a group of Spanish musicians featuring Jorge Pardo on sax and flute, Carles Benavent on bass, Rubem Dantas on percussion, and long-time Corea collaborator Tom Brechtlein on drums. When a tour landed Corea in Madrid, he was able to take in the full force of Paco de Lucia’s nuevo flamenco when Paco and his band sat in at a gig. Corea loved the creative flow, and the improvisational give and take was so energetic that he didn’t want it to stop. Variety writes, “Smoking from the get-go...[Touchstone is] an excursion that revived and revamped the breezy grooves of Corea’s first Return To Forever band.”
In September 2005 Corea, along with seven other living legends of American music were named to join the ranks of the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters. Initiated in 1982, the NEA Jazz Master title is the nation’s highest honor in this distinctively American art form. The NEA singled out Corea as a musician “who has dazzled audiences in every idiom from acoustic avant-garde to samba-tinged fusion.”
Corea began his career working in bands and accompanying Sarah Vaughan. He rose to prominence in the jazz world by joining Miles Davis playing electric piano. In his years with Miles, Chick played on the ground-breaking classic fusion recordings Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way. From there, Corea formed his own avant-garde improvisational group Circle.
In 1971, Corea changed musical direction and created his landmark group Return to Forever. The early edition of that group, featuring the young Stanley Clarke on bass, was a softer, samba-flavored ensemble including Flora Purim on vocals, her husband Airto on drums and reedman Joe Farrell. After two albums with this lineup, Corea went the electronic fusion route, incorporating into RTF the firepower of drummer Lenny White and guitarist Bill Connors. While Corea was forging a unique style on the Moog synthesizer, RTF (with Al Di Meola replacing Connors) spearheaded the mid-70s fusion movement with such innovative albums as the Grammy-winning No Mystery. When RTF disbanded in 1975, Corea delved into a series of diverse recordings with artists like Herbie Hancock and Gary Burton.
Corea’s myriad projects in the 1980s included forming the Elektric Band, recording the Grammy-winning albums Leprechaun, My Spanish Heart and Musicmagic, and working with Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws and Nancy Wilson, among countless others.
In 1992, Corea, along with manager Ron Moss, formed Stretch Records, a label committed to stretching musical boundaries and focusing more on freshness and creativity than on a particular style. In 1996, as his last release for GRP Records, he put out Music Forever & Beyond a five-disc box set of selected works from 1964-1996. Corea’s first release on Stretch was a tribute to pianist Bud Powell. That same year, he not only released a recording with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra with Bobby McFerrin as conductor, but also teamed up with Gary Burton for the first time in 20 years on the Grammy-winning Native Sense—The New Duets.
In 1998, Chick released the six-disc A Week at the Blue Note boxed set, featuring music played during the heralded debut of his latest group Origin. In 1999 he completed a recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra of Corea.Concerto, a work he had developed for over a decade. To celebrate his 60th birthday year in 2001, the Blue Note in New York asked him to play the club for an unprecedented three week appearance. The sold-out event was commemorated with the double CD Chick Corea—Rendezvous In New York.
Concert-goers may enhance their experience by attending a “jazzy” Latin buffet served by the UCSB Faculty Club at 6 pm prior to the show. The dinner is $18 per person; reservations must be made by January 31 by calling (805) 893-3096.
Chick Corea & Touchstone are presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by the Santa Barbara News-Press, KMGQ “Magic” FM and the Best Western Peppertree Inn. Arts & Lectures’ Jazz Series, of which this concert is a part, is sponsored by the Warren Family in honor of James Raney Warren. Tickets are $60 for the general public and $25, but in limited availability, for UCSB students who must show valid ID at ticket purchase and the evening of the show. $100 VIP tickets include a post-show reception with the artists. Ticket prices are subject to convenience fees. Tickets are on sale now and can also be purchased at the door, if still available.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.