Chick Corea - Jazz Great

Chick Corea on hit new album, working with Miles and Scientology

HeraldToday.com has a great article today about one of my favorite musicians.

I had the opportunity to attend the most marvelous concert I've ever been to, at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre about three years ago, where I heard Chick and his band and his singer-wife Gayle Moran, jam for several sets of the most compelling jazz I've ever heard.

Here's what the HeraldToday had to say about him:

He's one of the greatest jazz pianists alive. Chick Corea has excelled in the studio and on stage — as a performer, composer and band leader — for the past 40 years.

It goes on to say this:

The pianist attributes his good fortune to Scientology, the religion founded by science fiction/fantasy novelist L. Ron Hubbard. In fact, Corea's past two albums have been inspired by Hubbard novels of the same titles. "Browsing through my collection I was drawn to the title 'The Ultimate Adventure,'" reads the album's liner notes. "Remembering that this unique fantasy story had a backdrop of scenes and characters from the ancient tales, 'Arabian Nights,' it immediately had me conjuring emotions, sounds, rhythms and music."

Corea relocated to Clearwater about seven years ago to be closer to Scientology's headquarters and the courses he takes at their facilities. One of the pianist's "treasured" possessions is a collection of correspondence he shared with Hubbard from 1971 to 1984. The two men became mutual fans. "

(Hubbard) was an amazing man and we became friends in that way," Corea said. "He listened to a lot of my records — he really liked 'Return to Forever.’ ” .... Scientology is the greatest thing that's hit the planet in a long time."