Further Explorations

2013 - Present

Grammy Honors

Hot House & Trilogy

At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2013, Chick & Gary Burton took home two statues for their acclaimed duet album, Hot House. Only two years later, Chick repeated the double-victory as the acclaimed 3xCD set Trilogy took home two more Grammys, for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo (“Fingerprints”).

Remarkably, this brought Chick’s Grammy total to 22.

 
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The Vigil

Stunning new sextet

Chick assembled a hard-charging lineup of primarily young guns to form The Vigil, his latest touring and recording powerhouse. Since releasing their barn-burning debut album The Vigil to overwhelming critical acclaim in June 2013, Chick and the band have circled the globe, including extensive tours of the US, Europe, Japan and South America.
 

Chick & Stanley Clarke

The Acoustic Duet

Return to Forever founding members Chick & Stanley Clarke joined forces for a week-long run of shows at Catalina Jazz Club in LA in April 2013, which featured more than a dozen esteemed guests — including Herbie Hancock — and led to unprecedented piano-and-bass duo tours of Japan and Europe in 2014, as Chick and Stanley re-invented the classic RTF repertoire.
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Chick Corea Week

at Jazz at Lincoln Center

May 2013 saw the astounding spectacle of Chick's week of performances and curated shows at the venerable Jazz at Lincoln Center. Chick teamed with Wynton Marsalis and the JALC Orchestra for three nights of newly-arranged Corea classics, plus the debut of a new composition written for the MIT Jazz Ensemble. Chick also hand-selected artists to play throughout JALC, including young piano stars Beka Gochiashvili and Gadi Lehavi; Elio Villafranca; Edsel Gomez; Henry Cole, and more.

Chick’s lifelong commitment to the art of solo-piano performance took new flight in May 2014, with the release of Portraits, recorded live. The album is an intimate look at Chick’s musical universe: homages to Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and more; a suite of his own beguiling compositions; and totally improvised sonic “portraits” of audience members.

 

Honoring Herbie

at the Kennedy Center Honors

Chick closed out 2013 by honoring his friend and musical compatriot Herbie Hancock, as Herbie received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor at a star-studded event in Washington, DC, in front of an audience that included President Obama and the First Lady — plus fellow honorees Carlos Santana, Billy Joel, Shirley MacLaine and Martina Arroyo. Herbie was blown away as Chick and an all-star band (including Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard) played a killin' version of "Walkin'."

Just days later, Chick joined his longtime friend Stevie Wonder in LA, where Stevie recreated his timeless album Songs in the Key of Life in a concert packed wall-to-wall with musical stars, benefitting the charity House Full of Toys. Chick was invited to sit-in on Stevie's fantastic fusion instrumental "Contusion," (reminiscent of Chick's Return to Forever innovations). The standing-room crowd at the Nokia Center rocked to the full album for three hours straight, thanks to guests Herbie Hancock, John Mayer, Esperanza Spalding, India.Arie, and many from the original album personnel, including keyboardist Greg Phillinganes.

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Chick & Béla Fleck

"Simultaneous Inspiration"

Béla Fleck, celebrated pioneer of the banjo, rejoined Chick on tour throughout 2014 and 2015, circling the globe and in September 2015 releasing their long-awaited live album, Two, a double-album that expanded their already extraordinary setlist. Turns out, classical inventions (“Prelude en Berceuse” by Henri Dutilleux) and next-level bluegrass (“Bugle Call Rag”) come as second nature to the two virtuosos.
 

A Legendary Duet

Chick & Herbie Hancock

One of the truly seismic duets in modern jazz, Chick & Herbie, emerged with a freewheeling, purely acoustic sound in the midst of the ‘70s electric boom. They reprised their musical conversation beginning in March 2015 on a globe-spanning world tour, where they were standing-room-only crowds in some of the most storied halls on the planet, including New York’s Carnegie Hall.

In September 2015, Chick was honored as artist in residence at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, where he performed solo, in duet with Gonzalo Rubalcaba and then Béla Fleck, and with his Grammy-winning Trilogy trio.

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Chick's 75th Birthday

The Greatest Jazz Birthday Party Ever

For his milestone birthday, Chick lined up a marathon tour schedule, literally circling the globe and performing with a murderer’s row of fellow musical giants. It all started in April 2016 with the International Jazz Day concert broadcast nationwide from the White House lawn, followed by a US theater tour with Béla Fleck. Chick spent May in Japan in duet with Makoto Ozone, including two performances of Mozart’s “Concerto for Two Pianos” with the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. June saw the return of the Trilogy trio for a US tour, followed by a European jaunt with the all-star Homage to Heroes quintet.

The rest of the year is even busier: Chick reconvenes the Elektric Band for a residency at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood and a US theater tour. He returns to Europe and then Japan, playing first with Gary Burton, and then in new trios with Avishai Cohen (bass) and Marcus Gilmore (drums), then Eddie Gomez (bass) and Brian Blade (drums).

October 2016 sees a party like only Chick could pull off: an unprecedented two-month residency at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club, playing 80 shows with 15 different bands. These include a tribute to his mentor Miles Davis with other Davis alumnae; a week with longtime partner-in-crime and drum legend Steve Gadd; two nights of experimental electronica with drummer Marcus Gilmore and guests; and the return the Flamenco Heart. The Harlem String Quartet will join the simpatico duo partnership with Gary Burton. Perennial fan-favorite projects with Origin and the Trodheim Jazz Orchestra will also occupy the Blue Note stage, plus a three-night series of duets with pianists yet to be announced.

The final two weeks of the run will feature the music of Return to Forever and more – the acoustic lineup (Nov.30 – Dec. 4) includes Ravi Coltrane (sax), Hubert Laws (flute), Avishai Cohen (bass) and RTF drummer Lenny White; an electric band (Dec. 8-11) dubbed Return to Forever Meets Mahavishnu, featuring fellow legend John McLaughlin on guitar, bassist Victor Wooten and drummer White, will also delve into some classic Mahavishnu Orchestra material.

New Directions

2000 - 2012