‘A student kind of mind:’ One on one with Chick Corea at KPLU

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit down in the KPLU performance studio last Friday with jazz legend Chick Corea for an interview and live performance.

Corea was in town with his trio at Seattle’s Jazz Alley, but took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk to me about his incredible career, his month-long birthday celebration at the Blue Note in New York, his work with musicians like Paul Motian and Miles Davis and more.

He also performed three beautiful solo piano pieces.

Listen to “Children’s Song #10”

After Corea opened the session with “Children’s Song #10,” I decided to ask him about what has made him so versatile over the years. Corea has played with many different musicians, crossed so many genres and styles, and I wanted to know how he avoided being typecast and limited to a particular sound.

He told me his attitude has always been to simply not think about it, or himself for that matter. The more he thought about defining himself for any other reason than self-improvement, the less productive he found it.

“I keep a student kind of mentality in my life, so that I am always learning something, and that keeps me fresh,” he said.

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