Chick Corea on electric piano is the most significant jazz innovator following the late period of John Coltrane.

My personal favorite recordings of his are Light As A Feather as leader and Captain Marvel under the leadership of Stan Getz. The Stan Getz album was recorded 3 March 1972 while the Corea album was recorded seven months later on 8 and 15 October 1972, the musical influence of Getz obviously being essential towards Chick Corea's personal evolution, they having performed key compositions like 500 Miles High together many times.

Corea's articulation, rhythm, and melodic freedom are incredible, expanding our collective experience of these primal musical elements.

Over the past several years, Chick sent several messages to me complimenting my music and my writings about music. In fact, I was recently thinking of connecting with him again when the awful news came of his leaving us.

Words fail when attempting to capture the utter magnificence and reach of his transformational influence upon the art of music.

Chick on electric piano and Bill Evans on acoustic piano are my absolute favorite jazz keyboard artists.

A new album set to be released soon, Taffeta Patterns, surely contains lessons learned from Chick assimilated into my composition and performance featuring a synth-electric piano.

For our collective grief, here is Lee Konitz playing the impossibly gorgeous composition of his friend, Chick, titled Windows, with Hal Galper accompanying.

Very fortunately, I was able to hear Chick Corea perform live on two occasions before we began corrosponding. The first time was at Catalina Bar and Grill in Los Angeles with Jack DeJohnette, Stanley Clarke, and Hubert Laws, and the second time was at the Blue Note in Manhattan with Eddie Gomez and Steve Gadd.

In Los Angeles, I was expecting to meet Chick and speak to him as arranged by Jack DeJohnette, but a woman who was in line in front of me (I was the last person on the line) kept on speaking to Chick for over 30 minutes - even though it was clear he, almost completely silent, wanted her to move on - to the point that I finally gave up and left.

Corea's personality in New York towards the audiences was miraculously charming, possessing a rare gift for communication.

The angels are singing greeting Chick Corea who now lives in my heart forever.

- Michael Robinson Longhi, February 2021, Los Angeles

Michael Robinson Longhi is an American composer, performer and musicologist. His over 200 albums include over 150 albums for meruvina and over 50 albums of piano improvisations. Michael has shared his music and ideas about music live with churches, universities, colleges, radio stations, high schools, elementary schools and community centers in the USA and online with the rest of the world. 

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