Chick Corea on Miles David and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard

With Chick Corea in Canada on a tour promoting his newest album, Canada.com ran an article on him featuring his ideas about his career and those who influenced him most.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

"It's not often you hear the names Miles Davis and L. Ron Hubbard in the same sentence.

'"Freedom to communicate, and freedom to think how you want to think -- to me that's the area where artists operate," says Corea. "I got that from Miles, and I learned it from Scientology."'

'"Scientology has enabled me to understand and develop my own strengths and to write music more quickly," he says. "It also helped me to become freer to create as I want to, not how others think I should."'

"In the 40 years since his first recording as leader, Corea, 64, has turned out almost 100 albums, picking up 45 Grammy nominations and playing with the top names in jazz along the way."

"Looking back, Corea says that when he first heard about Scientology from another musician in 1968, he was unsure where to go next with his music, or how to make the most of his talents.

"I began to use L. Ron Hubbard's ideas about artistic expression and communication to enhance my own abilities," he says. "That was when I really began to compose and do my own thing."

"'Taking your idea of Scientology from newspapers is like learning about jazz from newspapers,' he says impatiently. "If you want to learn about jazz, you buy some Duke Ellington and John Coltrane records and you go to see some music played live. You go to the source.

'If you want to learn about Scientology, you read a book by L. Ron Hubbard, you go to a Scientology bookstore and talk to the people there. You observe with your own eyes and make up your own mind.'"

Although Chick lives in Clearwater, Florida now, he used to live in Los Angeles where he regularly attended services at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre. It is more usual now to see him at the Scientology spiritual headquarters in Clearwater or the Church of Scientology of Tampa.

For Chick's Canadian fans, I recommend a visit to the Church of Scientology of Toronto.

Chick is also a supporter of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program.