Photo: Tore Sætre / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Chick Corea is one of those musicians where you just sit back and wonder how one person could move so fluently between so many worlds — bebop, post-bop, fusion, Latin jazz, classical chamber music, avant-garde — and make each one feel like home. Growing up in Chelsea, Massachusetts with a bandleader father clearly wired something deep into him, because by the time he was sitting in with Miles Davis in the late '60s on those electric, boundary-shattering sessions, you knew this wasn't just a sideman. Return to Forever, Spain, 500 Miles High — these aren't just compositions, they're landmarks. Twenty-three Grammy wins over a career that never stopped evolving, right up until he passed in February 2021. He never coasted. That kind of restless curiosity and joy in the music is genuinely rare, and honestly, the piano world is quieter without him.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Chick Corea
- Name (Japanese)
- チック・コリア
- Reading
- ちっく・こりあ
- Born
- June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Snake
- Origin
- Chelsea, Massachusetts, United States
- Occupation
- pianist / composer / jazz musician / recording artist / conductor
2. Background
- High school
- Chelsea High School
Awards & achievements
- IAS Freedom Medal
- 2017 honorary doctor of the Eastman School of Music
- 1990 Frankfurter Musikpreis
- Latin Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album
- NEA Jazz Masters
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Chick Corea born?
June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021.
Where is Chick Corea from?
Chick Corea is from Chelsea, Massachusetts, United States.
What does Chick Corea do?
Chick Corea works as pianist, composer, jazz musician, recording artist, conductor.
Pianist — see all → · Composer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.