Chick Corea

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.

 For more information on Chick Corea, check out these sites:

Chick Corea - the official site
Chick Corea Biography - From Concord Records.
Chick Corea - From Jazz Central Station.