Keyboard player and composer Chick Corea was born on June 12, 1941 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He began playing piano at the age of four, encouraged by his father, a trumpeter that led a Boston area traditional jazz group in the 1930s and 1940s.

By the early 1960s, after spending time studying music at both Columbia university and Julliard, Chick was developing a reputation as a fine keyboard player in the New York area. He gigged with Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, Mongo Santamaria and Stan Getz. In 1966 he recorded “Tones for Joan’s Bones,” his first album as a leader, which was released two years later.

Between 1968 and 1970 Corea’s work with Miles Davis on albums like “In a Silent Way,” “Filles de Kilimanjaro” and “Bitches Brew” brought him world-wide acclaim. After leaving Davis’ group he formed the group Circle with bassist Dave Holland, reedman Anthony Braxton and drummer Bill Altschul.  That group explored some of the more abstract aspects of jazz, but Corea left the group barely two years after their first gig.

The following year Corea formed another group with bass player Stanley Clarke, percussionist Airto Moreira, reed player Joe Farrell and vocalist Flora Purim. The band was called Return to Forever and it was one of the best fusion groups of the era combining elements of Latin jazz, classical music and rock. They filled concert halls around the world during their eight-year run (with several personnel changes), and then had several post-breakup reunions thereafter. Following the Return to Forever years, Corea continued working with his Elektric Band, the Akoustic Band and later in a trio setting. In 2015 he toured with fellow Davis alum Herbie Hancock in a “dueling piano format.”

Chick Corea is a member of the Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, an NEA Jazz Master and was awarded 23 Grammys during his career. Along with Hancock and Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea is considered “one of the leading keyboard virtuosi, composer and bandleaders” of the late 20th Century.  Corea passed away on February 9, 2021.

Here is a link to a Return to Forever performance recorded in 1974 for American television:

"SPACE CIRCUS"