ABSTRACT
Chick Corea won Grammy for the instrumental arrangement of his most-requested composition Spain. At the London concert in November 1999 where he and the London Philharmonic Orchestra premiered this version of the piece, plus a new arrangement of his own piano concerto. Corea's own piano concerto is unusual as such things go because unlike the Mozart but includes several passages of improvisation, thereby bringing together the twin sides of his musical world, composition and jazz playing. Although he studied the piano formally from the age of four, he then launched himself into a new phase of his extraordinary career, and released a recording of the Mozart concerto for two pianos in 1984. Soon afterwards, he began a collaboration with jazz-singer-turned-conductor Bobby McFerrin, which combines some fine classical playing with the jazz expertise of both men. Chick Corea so-called "Akoustic Band", formed in the late 1980s with bassist John Patitucci and drummer Dave Weckl brought him firmly back into jazz territory.
