Chick Corea gets a little Beatlemania

After nearly 40 years of playing together as a duo, pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton are recording their first album focusing on music by other artists.

Along with Jobim, Kurt Weill and Dave Brubeck, “Eleanor Rigby” stands out among the intriguing list of songs and composers they'll be playing during stops this week at  Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Friday and Royce Hall on Saturday in preparation for the recording session.

Though jazz musicians started covering Lennon and McCartney’s songbook before the Beatles released “Revolver,” Corea didn’t take much notice of the Fab Four fuss. “During that time I was so thoroughly immersed in Miles, Coltrane and Bill Evans,” Corea says. “Gary was deeply into the Beatles back then. I heard about them and all of the hoopla, but I had zero interest, and I didn’t follow what they were doing, for better or worse.”
 
It wasn’t Burton, however, who turned Corea onto the Beatles. He experienced his delayed epiphany courtesy of banjo star Bela Fleck. While touring together a few years ago, Corea noticed his longtime sound engineer Bernie Kirsh and Fleck intently dissecting a Beatles tune. Feeling left out of the discussion, he asked Fleck to fill him in. Over the course of a long drive to the next gig, Fleck gave Corea a guided tour through the Beatles catalog he keeps stored on his hard drive. “That got me really excited,” Corea says. “I read a biography of the band and bought the ‘Anthology’ DVD set.”
 
It turns out Corea and his wife, singer-keyboardist Gayle Moran, had been only one degree separated from the Beatles for decades and didn’t really know it. They’d been close friends with “fifth Beatle” George Martin (who arranged the original recording of “Eleanor Rigby”) since he produced Mahavishnu Orchestra’s 1974 album “Apocalypse,” which featured Moran’s ethereal vocals. “George became a dear friend, and we never associated him with the Beatles,” Corea says. “But it all came around, and we became big fans.”

Click here to read more of the Corea-Burton partnership.

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— Andrew Gilbert

Comments

[Donald Frazell]

Come on now, the Beatless only made lullabies. they have no complex rhythmic or harmonic strucutes, all simple melodies base on adolescent chord changes. What was "adventurous" was simply filler with wall of sound and splicing completely different melodies together as there really wasnt anything to develop anyway. No pop group had less musical ability than the Fab Four, Ringo wasnt even recorded on the albums he was and is so bad, still whining about how he truly is a great durmmer. LOL!

Eleanor Rigby is the ONLY Beatless song ever recorded by jazz players, it has a verticality that lends to some ability to build off of. Though mostly by mid level players like the Crusaders. No music is ever treated as the original intent, songs like Coltrane's version of My Favorite Things and The Inch Worm were totally disasembling and reconstructing the tunes, they are musical Cubism. But had much better structures to work from in those two cases. Even if translating into a compltely different emotional and creative state.

Jaco Pastorius recorded a free version of Blackbird, but then, Jaco was Jaco, the ultimate insane genius. RIP.

[Ringo]

Hey Frazzled

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Open Minded]

Frazell

Had any fresh ideas in the last 20/30 years?

[Donald Frazell]

I simply continue what was going before 1960, nothing has happened since except soft spoiled kids who wannabe famous. 1959 a damn good year withMiles and Coltrane recording Kind of Blue the week I was born. And Coleman's Shape of Jazz to Come and Trane's own Giant Steps the same year, beginning the last phase of America's only true artform, except some photographers like I was. Now they are too lazy to develop a creative language, as they have nothing to say. Except, memmemememmememmemememe

All culture is a link in a chain, now with modernism finding what is essential in all the worlds arts, defining who WE are, not self expressing about
mememememememe

[Open Minded]

That was a rhetorical question, if you're unfamiliar with irony. Too recent?

[Donald Frazell]

When done well, like Comedy Central yeah, artistes weak versions of dumbasz dadaist nonsense which was about avoiding reality instead of personal responsibility and facing life, no. Talk about being trapped in the past, one you dont even know. Now that is irony.

art collegia delenda est

[tom]

Pitiful ignorance on Corea's part. It's ok though. I doubt any Beatle had any interest at all in Corea's "music", now or ever.

[Donald Frazell]

Of course they dont, which is part of why they are such horrendous musicians. Pablum for kids. Corea made great adult music, before he went all Scientology and Return to Forever. His old Circle days of Monk's Pannonia, Colema'ns Blues Connotation, and his own Windows and Samba Yantra were incredible, and has touched on it since, especially when playing with Herbie Hancock, two of the best pianist in the world, Cant say that about the fraud four.

[imho]

At least two outstanding jazz musicians admire Beatles music - Chick Korea (over 100 recordings including 11 with Miles Davis and about 90 as a leader or co-leader, winning 15 Grammy awards after receiving 51 nominations) and Bela Fleck (over 60 recordings including nearly 30 as a leader or co-leader, winning 11 Grammy awards after being nominated in more categories than any other musician ever). Disagreeing with them is Mr. Frazell whose musical accomplishments and/or qualifications are what exactly? Are there any? Hmm, we think we wouldn't be going on a limb by concluding that in musical matters we value the opinions of Korea and Fleck just a little tiny bit more.

[Donald Frazell]

I didn't know a whole country(North and South?) loved the Beatless?!Or that Bela Flek is a Jazz/Modern musician?! News to me, and pretty much everyone else. Playing with Jean Luc Ponty and Stanley Clarke besides Korea(sic) does not a jazzer make. Korea(sic) has been a lil funny ever since he did that scientology thing. But talent wins out when in the right venue as when paired with Hancock, probably THE best pianist alive, period.

Corea(excuse me if I use his real name, sheesh) is simply trying to follow in Herbie Hancocks footsteps adn doing an album of pop music to find an ew fanbase and make some $$$. but then, Herbie chose a real musican and artist. Joni Mitchell, who had employed jazz greats like Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius(ever hear of them? Didn't think so Mr Wikipager) because her music is demanding and adult, not simplistic and for adolescents of every age.

Wynton Marsalis just ripped the Beatless a few weeks ago when here(have you..never mind). Recordings of jazz musicians covering Beatless lulabies are sparse to say the least. There is nothing to work with. Have heard workings of James Taylor and even Cyndi Lauper(Miles played Time after Time, was way better than doing the Michae Jackson tune, he is same category as Beatless, ttwisted adolescents). But why no Beets? Hmmm, lets not know what one is talking about or anything, sheesh.

That is not a humble opinion of yours, its attempting to twist things to your own desires, and limitations. Truth will out, for that IS creative arts purpose. The highest common denominator, not the lowest of entertainment, so well achieved by your homely mopheads.

art collegia delenda est
Fine art colleges must be destroyed.

[imho]

Nice try, Mr. Frazell, and you of all people criticizing another person's misspelling is an especially hilarious touch considering that so many of your comments contain plenty of typos and spelling errors, but, regardless of how you spin it, your opinions on musical matters are still worth absolutely nothing compared to those of real musicians like Corea and Fleck.

[Open Minded]

Let's not encourage the village idiot.

[Donald Frazell]

Once is a typo, twice is ignorance. Case closed, two dodo's with one stone.

You types always whine, but the few times you actually try to debate with data, you fail miserably, again.

And so proven once more
art collegia delenda est
Go get a real education.

[imho]

Debate? Are you kidding? One would have to be out of his mind to even consider seriously debating such utter nonsense as "No pop group had less musical ability than the Fab Four". And you should learn when not to use an apostrophe before talking about another person's ignorance. Besides, my misspelling of Chick Corea's last name does not in any way diminish the argument because it was not about my qualifications as a speller but about his (and those of Bela Fleck) versus yours as judges of musical qualities.