Downtown’s newest nightspot, Anthology, opens this month, and an impressive roster of talent is kicking off the venue’s entertainment schedule.
Easily topping the list is acclaimed keyboard player Chick Corea, appearing there on June 22. One of the most influential pianists of the 20th century, Corea is best known for his work in jazz fusion, but the prolific composer’s music can’t be easily pigeonholed.
It’s been an amazing career by any standard. During the 1960s, he played with a number of Latin jazz performers, including Herbie Mann and Mongo Santamaria, while making his first recorded performance with trumpeter Blue Mitchell on his album, “The Thing To Do.”
Prolific to a fault, Corea released his first solo record, “Tomes for Joan’s Bones,” in 1966, eventually amassing more than 80 albums to his credit.
It’s been largely groundbreaking work since the very beginning. In 1968, he joined Miles Davis’ group, later taking part in such certified classic recordings as “In a Silent Way” and “Bitches Brew.”
That same year, he released his third disc, “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs.” The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Corea has been nominated for 45 Grammys during his career, taking home over a dozen of the Gramophone statuettes, with the most recent one awarded in 2007 for his album, “The Ultimate Adventure.”
During the 1970s, he formed the all-star fusion group Return to Forever alongside bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Al DiMeola and drummer Lenny Williams. Eight albums were released between 1972 and 1978, with Corea moving on to solo works and the occasional collaboration in the following decades.
Corea has a strong San Diego connection in his ties to guitarist Peter Sprague. Sprague was a member of Corea’s band during the early ’80s.
“My love for his music began when I was still in high school,” recalled Sprague. “I’ve always been drawn to Brazilian and Latin music, and he was incredible at that. He also had an amazing sense of harmony.”
He wrote to Corea requesting the music to his tune “What Game Shall We Play Today?”
“I also let him know, jokingly, that if he was ever looking for a guitarist, I was most likely available for that date,” Sprague laughed.
When he recorded a 20-minute solo guitar medley of Chick Corea tunes for his third release, Sprague asked Corea to pen the liner notes.
“It turned out he liked the way I played his tunes [and] he asked me to play at his annual Valentine’s Day party.”
It was perhaps inevitable that the two musicians would work together.
“Since I first heard his recordings back in the 70s, I’ve pursued and studied his music until I knew it well enough to play with him,” Sprague said.
The celebration ended up doubling as an audition for the young Sprague.
“Either Chick liked what I played that night or at least dug my energy. Either way, he then hired me to play some gigs with his band,” he stated.
After that, things moved rather quickly.
“We rehearsed for a couple of days, and I debuted with the band for a series of concerts at Disneyland on the Memorial Day weekend in 1984,” added Sprague.
While Sprague has performed with many artists over the years, for him, there was one clear sign that Corea was a star of major stature.
“Never have I had the luxury of rehearsals like we did for that project. We worked 8-hour days getting the sound just right. And we were only playing a handful of songs, albeit lengthy ones,” Sprague said.
By comparison, a rehearsal for an appearance with the San Diego Symphony was only slotted for a few hours of practice.
“Time is money, so I understand why lengthy rehearsals are rarely practical,” Sprague remarked. “But never before or since have I had that amount of time to prepare for a project.”
Sprague would continue to work with Corea through the years. In 1990, the pair worked on the Kelly McGillis film “Cat Chasers,” and Sprague arranged his signature song “Spain” for a record and video by The GRP All-Star Big Band.
Notably, Sprague is Corea’s official music transcriber and has written numerous books about guitar, including “The Jazz Solos of Chick Corea” as well as six other volumes devoted to the keyboardist’s music.
For music lovers the opportunity to take in a set from an artist as revered as Chick Corea is not something to be taken lightly. Whether you are a fan of his fusion material, his later classical works or his Latin jazz, his performance at Anthology promises to be nothing short of a summit meeting with a jazz legend.
Chick Corea performs at Anthology, 1337 India St., on Friday, June 22. There are two shows, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $50-$140. For more information, visit www.anthologysd.com.