What would you ask Chick Corea?

[Dan Gould]

8 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

are you really gonna ask him a controversial scientoligst question!

Why not, its a criminal enterprise and he's a proud "parishioner".

[Dmitry]

I am NOT asking him about Scientology, but any of you cats can. It seems to be a burning issue for some.

[JSngry]

Speaking of burning issues, ask him why he never got into movie scoring like Terrence Blanchard did. Did he resist Harvey Weinstein's advances?

[Mark Stryker]

5 hours ago, JSngry said:

Speaking of burning issues, ask him why he never got into movie scoring like Terrence Blanchard did. Did he resist Harvey Weinstein's advances?

This is a good question, though I'd probably leave off the Weinstein tag but that's just me. But it seems as if would Chick would have had film opportunities over the years. FWIW, Terrence's film scoring career really owes itself to Spike Lee, who kept using him for movie after movie, allowing Terrence to learn the craft and for others in the business to hear/see his work, which led to more opportunities.

Edited October 15, 2017 by Mark Stryker

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

look the only thing i read about chick, re: the "group"-- was that it seems they actually give chick more freedom than most, as hes been in it way longer than the other celebs and hes a jazz musican and stuff, so the church doesnt bother him as much as it normally would someone, chick has some sort of automy---

 

but we all know about what happed w/ sciglgy + RTF, OMG.  Scientology freaking took over and destoryed RTF- now theres a question for ya.  do you guys know about that.....even when the reunion hit, it was a big huge issue, remember the reunion a few years back, apparently stanley clarke, in order to get back on chicks good side, REJOINED, after escaping for many years.  its really weird

[Dan Gould]

5 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

look the only thing i read about chick, re: the "group"-- was that it seems they actually give chick more freedom than most, as hes been in it way longer than the other celebs and hes a jazz musican and stuff, so the church doesnt bother him as much as it normally would someone, chick has some sort of automy---

 

but we all know about what happed w/ sciglgy + RTF, OMG.  Scientology freaking took over and destoryed RTF- now theres a question for ya.  do you guys know about that.....even when the reunion hit, it was a big huge issue, remember the reunion a few years back, apparently stanley clarke, in order to get back on chicks good side, REJOINED, after escaping for many years.  its really weird

Weird only because the "church" requires members to disassociate from "apostates" (i.e., anyone who escapes their clutches); therefore if Chick required Clarke to 'rejoin' then it was the church telling Chick what he had to do.

 

[JSngry]

Ask him about Gabor Szabo.

[Dmitry]

Well, I went, but I didn't ask. Chick didn't pick me. This Q&A lasted about 40 minutes, and was recorded by WGBH pbs tv, and is on their FB page now. 

https://www.facebook.com/WGBHMusicChannel/

Kind of generic questions, and oblique answers. I was gonna ask him what music he plays at home, when and if he practices, and the question about his lack of movie scoring credits. 
To my amazement people were as much, if not more, in awe of Steve Gadd.

Oh, and even after decades, CC still haven't lost that Boston accent, which becomes more noticeable the longer he speaks.

The concert rocked. Steve Gadd sounds like 2 drummers playing at the same time. My first time seeing him live, as well as Corea. Corea's playing behind the soloing musicnas is so impeccable and organic, that it disappears and kinda becomes one with the solo...perhaps someone can describe it better.

NB: Wanted to paste the names of the other musicians in the band, went on CC's website...his production company's address -
411 Cleveland St. #215
Clearwater, FL 33755

Then, remembering that Scientology is based in Clearwater, I google their address -
503 Cleveland St
Clearwater, FL 33756

Hi, Neighbor!

 

Edited October 16, 2017 by Dmitry

[sgcim]

12 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

look the only thing i read about chick, re: the "group"-- was that it seems they actually give chick more freedom than most, as hes been in it way longer than the other celebs and hes a jazz musican and stuff, so the church doesnt bother him as much as it normally would someone, chick has some sort of automy---

 

but we all know about what happed w/ sciglgy + RTF, OMG.  Scientology freaking took over and destoryed RTF- now theres a question for ya.  do you guys know about that.....even when the reunion hit, it was a big huge issue, remember the reunion a few years back, apparently stanley clarke, in order to get back on chicks good side, REJOINED, after escaping for many years.  its really weird

My father was a salesman, and he used to go to people's houses and try to sell them stuff.

One time he went to Lenny White's house, and they were talking about the fact that he just left Chick's band, because he was sick of the Scientology BS.

LW said that after each one of their performances, they were graded according to Scientology principles, and they were awarded stars if they were good Scientology boys.

There are a lot of crazy stories about Scientology and jazz. I was surprised to find out that Melvin Rhyne was into it.

Their line was, "Look, you can go to a shrink and pay him thousands of dollars to fix you up. Just give us a thousand bucks, and we'll get you back on your feet..."

[Dan Gould]

According to the Leah Ramini episode (re-airing on A&E Tuesday night at 6 pm), it costs about half a million dollars to ascend the "Bridge to Total Freedom".

Now your average member may not keep it up that far but the "leaders" love celebrities like Corea who can keep paying for 'auditing' and other bullshit.

A cult, not a church, and guilty of untold crimes against millions of people.

[rostasi]

Thanks for the WGBH link. Yes, questions were pretty bland,
but it really showed the difference between older fans vs young
students and the kind of questions (or declarations) presented.
I'm glad that it was more student oriented.

 

Stanley Clarke and Gayle Moran as well.
Nicky Hopkins is on the album too,
but not on this cut.

Edited October 16, 2017 by rostasi

[Aggie87]

On 10/13/2017 at 11:27 AM, jazzbo said:

I know far too much about Scientology, at least the Austin org of the 'eighties. I spent about three years as the only non-scientologist renting a garage apartment of a house that had a revolving door of tenants that were Scientologists working at the org there, and spent longer than that working as a drummer with a guitarist who was a Scientologist. 

Most of these were good people caught up in a financial and emotional trap. . . a few really believed they were in the process of saving the world, a few were clinging to the only real community they'd known, and a few were just in transit between this and other waking nightmares.

Ms Remini is doing a good job of exposing the awful goings on. More power to her, I hope she keeps at it.

 

Those guys (possibly your roommates) used to accost me on Guadalupe all the time, starting in the fall of '83.  They were as desperate as the junkies a block down the street in front of the baptist church (at least I think it was a baptist church).  

[jazzbo]

I'm not sure it was my roommates, they were working inside the building, but yeah, at times those sidewalks were not easy to navigate in between these Scientologists and the various flavors of spare change artists.

[sidewinder]

6 hours ago, jazzbo said:

I'm not sure it was my roommates, they were working inside the building, but yeah, at times those sidewalks were not easy to navigate in between these Scientologists and the various flavors of spare change artists.

Reminds me of Tottenham Court Road, London circa 1980. One got to be expert in abrupt crossings of the road..

[Gheorghe]

I try to think about CC strict musically, he´s a most important voice in jazz from the late 60´s until now, period.

I was sure I will avoid the other things , that ideology , church how you call it because I hate to get into that having no knowlegde and no interest in the non-musical aspects.

But since there is so much discussion about it, may I ask you: During the boom of Return to Forever was it a known fact to the public his association to all that ? Now, after almost 40 years I seem to remember the guy from my school class who was crazy about "Return to Forever" was a strange type who always had that peaceful look and kept asking questions about the purpose of life, about how to become a more perfect human being and stuff like that, which seemed unusual to my conception of an average dude of 17 years.....
Due to his recommandations and to the all present interest in "Return to Forever" I got to listen to some of it and yeah there´s a lot of good music even if it didn´t "knock me out" the same way Hancocks Headhunters would have done or Miles´ stuff between 1970-1975, referring to 1970´s jazz or jazz-linked stuff.

That strange an peaceful and philosofic young dude , knowing that I also play modern jazz and start to get some gigs, asked me if I would try to "make my music the way it would make a better world and phrases like that".

Now, this never was my stuff, gettin into something like that, but now while I remember that strange kid I ask myself if he was from that movement and got to Chick Corea through all that, and not like me who said well he´s the guy who played with Miles, let´s see what he plays now.....

[Gheorghe]

2 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

I try to think about CC strict musically, he´s a most important voice in jazz from the late 60´s until now, period.

I was sure I will avoid the other things , that ideology , church how you call it because I hate to get into that having no knowlegde and no interest in the non-musical aspects.

But since there is so much discussion about it, may I ask you: During the boom of Return to Forever was it a known fact to the public his association to all that ? Now, after almost 40 years I seem to remember the guy from my school class who was crazy about "Return to Forever" was a strange type who always had that peaceful look and kept asking questions about the purpose of life, about how to become a more perfect human being and stuff like that, which seemed unusual to my conception of an average dude of 17 years....., and he used emphatic phrases like "that music changed my live...."

Now, I love good music and good musicians, but I wouldn´t go up to one of them and tell him he "changed my life"....

Due to that boy´s  recommandations and to the all present interest in "Return to Forever" I got to listen to some of it and yeah there´s a lot of good music even if it didn´t "knock me out" the same way Hancocks Headhunters would have done or Miles´ stuff between 1970-1975, referring to 1970´s jazz or jazz-linked stuff.

That strange an peaceful and philosofic young dude , knowing that I also play modern jazz and start to get some gigs, asked me if I would try to "make my music the way it would make a better world and phrases like that".

Now, this never was my stuff, gettin into something like that, but now while I remember that strange kid I ask myself if he was from that movement and got to Chick Corea through all that, and not like me who said well he´s the guy who played with Miles, let´s see what he plays now.....

 

[Dmitry]

Approximately when did CC get into Scientology? 

Edit:Just read this on his FB page.

Scientology

Under the "special thanks" notes, found in all of his later albums, Corea mentions that L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, has been a continual source of inspiration. In 1968 Corea discovered Dianetics, Hubbard's principal work, and in the early 1970s developed an interest in Hubbard's science fiction novels. The two exchanged letters until Hubbard's death in 1986, and Corea even had three guest appearances on Hubbard's 1982 album Space Jazz: The Soundtrack of the Book Battlefield Earth, noting, "[Hubbard] was a great composer and keyboard player as well. He did many, many things. He was a true Renaissance Man."[2]

Corea claimed that Scientology became a profound influence on his musical direction in the early 1970s:

I no longer wanted to satisfy myself. I really want to connect with the world and make my music mean something to people. [9]

In 1998 Chick Corea and fellow entertainers Anne Archer, Isaac Hayes, and Haywood Nelson attended the 30th anniversary of Freedom Magazine, the Church of Scientology's investigative news journal, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to honor 11 human rights activists.[10]

 

Also, a good interview with AAJ from 13 years ago. He opens up about Scientology. Looks like he is a happy disciple.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/chick-corea-chick-corea-by-ty-cumbie.php?page=1&width=1024

 

Edited October 17, 2017 by Dmitry

[Dmitry]

1982 or 1983 interview.

 

 

[Gheorghe]

So even if I didn´t get a direct answer to my question, this seems to proove that a lot of people from that church were in the audience and the fan community. I wouldn´t be astonished if that boy I knew who was CC and RTF fan, became a member .

There´s only one Hubbard for me: Freddie , and only one Ron: Carter

[Michael Weiss]

On October 13, 2017 at 9:33 AM, JSngry said:

Ask him hey dude, how's it goin'!

Ask him to get that Circle band back together. They were spunky!

Ask him what he knows about this episode of Adam 12:

And then, if it was me, I'd call it a night and go home.

Yowza

[tranemonk]

I have always struggled with how to balance an artist's contributions with the more "controversial" aspects of their lives. I was recently reading about the whole Steve Coleman sexual harassment mess and thinking about Chick's Scientology and Miles' abuse...  and it's just complicated. I mean I know.... I read Straight Life and I know about Art's behavior... 

I got nothing new to add... just thinking about how (for me) it's a struggle ignoring stuff like that. More often than not, I do and just listen to the music - but it's a struggle.

[mikeweil]

I can feel with you. I am close to selling most of my Miles Davis albums as I find much of his behaviour disgusting, and can't ignore it while listening. Same witn Freddie Hubbard after reading he attempted to rape Jane Getz. 

[JSngry]

Never idolize humans.

[rostasi]

If I can't separate the final product of a person's creativity from their personality, then I've totally unrealistically homogenized their whole life.

If I insist on blending a person's creative output with their personality, I’m painting their entire life with a single, unrealistic brushstroke.

By refusing to separate the artist from their work, I’d be collapsing all the layers of their life - their contradictions, their failures, their virtues into one neat, over-simplified story. But people aren’t neat, and life isn’t simple. It’s messy, and humans are full of shades, not just black and white.

To flatten an artist’s life based on a single part of their behavior, no matter how vile, ignores the richness of human nature. It’s like saying only saints can create beautiful things, which is a fantasy at best. Often, creativity comes from the same tangled,
shadowy places where flaws and contradictions live.

Recognizing this complexity doesn’t mean we excuse terrible behavior. It just means we understand that people, like their work, are multi-layered. We’re all walking contradictions, and sometimes, art is the truest expression of that struggle.
Reducing someone to their worst actions strips away the humanity that gives art its depth in the first place.

So, maybe it’s more honest to hold both the art and the behavior in view, without pretending they’re inseparable. Life isn’t an either/or - beauty and flaws often stand shoulder to shoulder, even in the same person.

Edited September 15 by rostasi

[Chuck Nessa]

At the end, was he singing or sobbing?