Original image of Chick Corea and bassist Carlitos Del Puerto at the Kansas City Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2017 by There Stands the Glass.
Two sounds battled for supremacy among my peers in a Midwestern suburban subdivision during the mid-’70s. The elaborate prog-rock of bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer dominated the record collections of many of my friends. Others preferred the brash jazz fusion typified by The Tony Williams Lifetime.
The members of the occasionally combative camps found common ground in Chick Corea. I heard Corea-affiliated albums such as Return to Forever’s prog/fusion rampage Romantic Warrior far more often than I might have liked. Drawn to more mainstream artists ranging from Aerosmith to Stevie Wonder, I wasn’t a true believer.
Everything changed when I heard Crystal Silence, Corea’s duet album with Gary Burton, six or seven years after its 1972 release. The pristine set served as one of my primary gateways into acoustic jazz. I’ve since spent more than four decades studying every nook and cranny of Corea’s extensive and wildly eclectic catalog.
I was elated to see Corea and Burton recreate Crystal Silence at the Gem Theater in 2012. And I took it personally when only about 250 people attended Corea’s afternoon set at the Kansas City Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2017. Corea died earlier this week. Sadly, I’m unable to commiserate with the boys who introduced me to Corea. My last remaining close friend from that era died last year.