I've always loved listening to jazz. Growing up, I dabbled with classic crooners like Chet Baker, Bing Crosby, and Nat King Cole. However, as I grew up, began to take piano lessons, and eventually started playing in large ensembles, I became more enthralled with instrumental artists; specifically, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, and, as you can probably guess by the star of this week's Artist Radar, Chick Corea.
Now, Chick Corea is not at all an upcoming, new artist. He is, rather, a pioneer in the world of jazz fusion due to his landmark use of electronic instruments. He is a man who plays with feeling, passion, and empathy, lighting up the stage and connecting with an audience in ways no other artist can. As a fellow pianist, it is easy to fall in love with Corea's style and listen with nothing but admiration and envy.
During my first semester of college, I took a class called Intro to Jazz. The course centered around the birth, evolution, and resurrection of jazz and the artists that helped influence the unique genre. As a jazz musician myself, I was in heaven. Throughout the semester, we had projects to help showcase our knowledge. One of which was to write about a jazz artist whose influence helped shape the way the genre expanded and provide an in-depth analysis of one of their tracks. Naturally, I chose Chick Corea and, in turn, analyzed one of Corea's most famous tunes, "Spain."
For this week's Artist Radar, I decided to share that paper with you, excluding the "Spain" analysis, because I feel it truly highlights Chick Corea's mark on jazz. For my non-music people out there who lack familiarity on basic music theory and more advanced jazz theory, I will provide definitions and explanations for each term I use during the essay, as well as other resources to check out for extra clarification.
**Note for my non-music people: Jazz can be intimidating. It is completely okay to feel this way. It is complex and loud. It can be quick and aggressive. But it also can be sweet and passionate. By learning at least a few small pieces of music theory, the genre will begin to unravel its secrets and more can appreciate it in its uniqueness. I hope this essay will act as a key to unlocking a deeper appreciation for jazz.**
In the jazz world, there is few electric keyboardists with an individualistic, recognizable style as that of Chick Corea’s. Beginning at age four, Corea idolized the musical abilities of Horace Silver and Bud Powell, and began to use composition styles similar to those of Mozart and Beethoven (“Early Years: 1941-71—Chick Corea”). This fusion between avant-garde composition and jazz improvisation helped mold his signature jazz fusion playing style. In his compositions, Corea included a mixture of dominant chords, chromatic and diminished scale runs, and “rapid-fire” phrasing (“Chick Corea: Documentary of Legendary Jazz Great, Pianist and Composer”). Though many pianists before Chick Corea used these elements during their solos, Corea was one of the first to blend them together with Latin American styles, evident in his 1972 album Light as a Feather (Yanow). His music and compositions were seen to be explosively creative, reaching new areas of jazz fusion that had never previously been explored. Corea’s adventurous fusion between Latin rhythms and jazz improvisation paved the way for other jazz artists to do the same with other music genres such as rock.
Chick Corea’s album Light as a Feather is the sophomore album of the group, Return to Forever. The original group consisted of Stanley Clarke, a double bassist, Joe Farrell, a floutist, Airto Moreia, a percussionist, Flora Purim, a vocalist, and Corea, himself. Light as a Feather, as the title suggests, pays homage to the light, melodic tunes featured on the album. “Spain,” one of the most well-known tunes Corea has ever written, combines light, melodic phrases with the Latin jazz fusion he is most known for. Throughout the tune, Corea comps lightly during each solo section in a Latin samba rhythm; however, when it’s his turn to solo, he reverts to his jazz fusion ways, expertly playing chromatic and diminished scale runs. The Latin samba rhythm returns, during a break between the A section and the fanfare, with a light, groovy melody shared by the flute, piano, and vocals. Chick Corea continues the Latin feel by adding percussive elements such as, castanets and claps on the 1st and 3rd beats. This mix between adventurous soloing techniques and Latin rhythms evident in “Spain” represents the musical artistry that Chick Corea emulates.
Without Chick Corea’s fusion between Latin jazz and jazz improvisation styles, mirroring those of Horace Silver and Bud Powell, and his contribution to the world of electric pianos, future jazz artists would have little to no experience in the realm of jazz fusion or the potential of electronic instruments.
Horace Silver- A pianist during the Hard Bop era of jazz, which was characterized by funk and soul! How cool! His style of playing was very similar to how organists play in church, which is quite vertical, and, due to his experience learning FROM a church organist, his music felt like "churchy-jazz." Silver's song, "Song for My Father" incorporates a strong Latin groove; most likely where Chick Corea got his inspiration for Latin rhythms as a child.
Bud Powell- The MOST FAMOUS bebop pianist! For those who aren't familiar with bebop, bebop is similar to swing music but focused more on technique. Most artists during this era wanted to develop their own technique of playing that could be easily identified through their performances (i.e., Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis).
Avant-Garde Composition- (hold onto our hats now, folks) A style of composition that focuses less on how the melody of a song sounds and how the harmonies fit with it, and instead, more about how each instrument has a unique timbre (pronounced "tamber") that makes them sound differently than other instruments. I know, kinda confusing, but if you think about the term "avant-garde," (which means "new or unusual idea") it makes a little more sense.
Jazz Improvisation- When soloists get to just do their own thing while the rhythm section (i.e., our percussion/strings pals: piano, drum set, and bass) keeps time! Typically, soloists are wind players of some sort (i.e., trumpet, saxophone, etc.), BUT members of the rhythm section can also participate in solo sections and often do. Anybody who improvises has free range to play whatever crazy melody they desire IF it stays within the key. However, some really great jazz artists have found ways to divert slightly away from the key and still produce some killer improvisation solos!
Jazz Fusion- Essentially, jazz + elements of any other music genre is jazz fusion. Pretty easy!
**Please bear with me for these next few terms! They'll be difficult to explain to anyone who has absolutely no concept of note names, scales, etc. But, I will include extra resources if you'd like to understand it better!**
Dominant Chords- Chords consisting of a dominant triad, which is ALWAYS major, and the minor seventh note in a scale. Let's break this down. The word "dominant" in music refers to the fifth note of any scale. For example, in the C major scale, which is one that most people know, the dominant is G. A triad is a collection of three notes stacked in thirds--the first note (root), the third, and the fifth. Now, what does that mean? Back to C major: The notes in the C major scale are as follows, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and then back to C. A scale is a collection of notes arranged in both ascending and descending order. They're always arranged in patterns of whole steps and half steps. If you're familiar with piano keys, if we start on C, a half step would be the black note directly above C, which is C# (or Dflat, but we don't need to go into that right now). A whole step would be two half steps, so, in this example, another half step up from C#, which is D. The pattern of whole steps (W) and half steps (H) in a major scale goes as follows: W W H W W W H. That's why the C major scale is: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. If the scale we are using is C major, and we need to build a triad off of the dominant, or fifth note in the scale, we start with G and use the third note and fifth note (in relation to G) to fill in the triad. So, our dominant triad for the C major scale would be: G B D. To finish, we need our minor seventh note, which would be F, because, in the key of G, there is an F# and, in order to make it minor, we need to go down a half step, which would be F.
WHEW, that was a lot, but, for those that made it this far, I hope you learned a ~little~ something about dominant chords!
Extra resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Db4wlA8az0
Chromatic and Diminished Scale Runs- Chromatic scale runs are scale runs made up of ALL half steps. In C major, it would be: C, C#, D, D#, E, E#, F, F#, and so on until you get back to C. Diminished scale runs are a bit trickier. I honestly cannot explain this one as well as I should be able to, so I would recommend watching PianoPig's video on Youtube, which explains the diminished scale and how it fits into jazz!
Extra resources:
Diminished Scale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxkUrrif1iw
Chromatic Scale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr2rXc9Qu4A
"Rapid-Fire" Phrasing- Essentially, just quick musical phrases! For example, in Chick Corea's case, when he groups tons of notes together and plays them pretty quickly. That's all! I don't have any extra resources for this one because it's not necessarily a jazz term, but rather a description that the author of the Vimeo chose to use.
Latin Samba Rhythm- OH BOY! I love me some Samba! I thought that this term would be best shown in a Youtube video, so if you click on this link, you can hear (and learn how to play) a great Samba rhythm in the style of jazz on the piano!
A Section- The first part of the melody! A standard form in jazz is AABA, where the melody is repeated twice, there is a ~spicy~ bridge, and then, the melody is repeated a final time!
Fanfare- A short, loud, brassy entrance! Literally, this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9iYm9PEAHg.
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