Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, expresses her emotion at the disappearance of Chick Corea.
Huge jazz pianist and great improviser, he will leave his mark in the history of jazz by participating in some of the decisive turning points of this music.
In the 1960s, he participated, alongside Miles Davis, in the birth of jazz-rock.
A decade later, he experimented with the electric piano, with the famous Fender Rhodes, whose sound he sculpts frequently using a modulator ring, which will remain his trademark. He created the band «Return to forever», which played a jazz fusion mixed with classical and Brazilian music to which is added a little later the influence of rock.
His style is recognizable among all: powerfully rhythmic - he also played drums - and tremendously melodic, tinged with mastered lyricism.
Breathtaking by the brilliance of his improvisations, he will also mark his time by the strength and number of his compositions. A prolific artist, he has given his audience more than 100 recordings in 30 years.
Chick Corea is thus the composer of some of the timeless standards of the history of jazz, like Spain », « Windows », « Armando’s Rhumba ” or “ La Fiesta ” which still resonate in our ears today.
Played worldwide, he won during his career 23 Grammy Awards in virtually all jazz categories.
The Minister extends her sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.