Monthly Archives: November 2016

TOUR: Béla Fleck & Chick Corea Announce Dual Bill Tour

CELEBRITY ACCESS — Jazz legend Chick Corea and the Elektric Band are teaming up with Béla Fleck & the Flecktones for a rare dual bill tour of North America next year.

The tour will hit the road with dates starting on August 5th and running through August 21st.

Both groups are touring in their original configurations, with the Flecktones consisting of Victor and Roy “Futureman” Wooten on Bass and Drumitar respectively, as well as Howard Levy on the mouth harp and keyboards.

Chick Corea will be supported with his entire classic Elektroband quintet on stage: John Patitucci (Bass), Frank Gambale (Guitar), Eric Marienthal (Saxophone), and Dave Weckl (Drums).

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Stay tuned to this space for future announcements and news about this incredible, once-in-a-lifetime tour!

Chick Corea on TKA

Béla Fleck on TKA

FEATURE: NPR Music Celebrates Chick Corea’s 75th Birthday!

 At 75, Chick Corea Still Has That Magic Touch

Tom Vitale for NPR –

Jazz pianist Chick Corea is celebrating his 75th birthday this year with a marathon of live performances. He was on the road all summer and has finally settled into an eight-week run at the Blue Note Club in Greenwich Village in New York. The birthday bash features 15 different bands, playing music from every phase of Corea’s long career.

Corea walks one day through the door of the Blue Note on West 3rd Street, greets the staff and walks past the Yamaha grand piano on the stage to the drum set, where he begins to play. He learned to play drums when he was 8, four years after he started playing piano. Back at the keyboard, he says he thinks of his fingers as drumsticks or mallets.

“I think of the piano like that,” Corea says. “Like a great big marimba. Or a percussion instrument. There’s so many possibilities of putting it together when you’ve got 10 mallets and 88 drums.”

Corea’s touch on the piano is what sets him apart, says New York Times music critic Nate Chinen. “It’s almost like his fingers bounce off the keys,” Chinen says.

(11/15/16)

Read the rest of the article at NPR Music

Chick Corea on TKA

INTERVIEW: John Sebastian Sits Down with Epiphone

 

 

Earlier this month, John Sebastian sat down with Epiphone Guitars to discuss his history with the instrument and its influence on his career as a premiere songsmith and instrumentalist.

 

 

 

From Epiphone:

“More than any other American band in the 1960s, the Lovin’ Spoonful best exemplified the musical spirit of The Beatles. Led by songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer John Sebastian, the Lovin’ Spoonful’s sound was an original blend of folk, rock n’ roll, R&B and country that defied description. The ‘Spoonful were renown for tight harmonies, clean-toned guitars, and a slightly behind the beat groove inspired by southern R&B. The band’s mastery of the push & pull of American music styles inspired their contemporaries and earned them an induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1965, John Lennon included their single “Daydream” in his portable jukebox and both “I’m Only Sleeping” and “Good Day Sunshine” owe a debt to the ‘Spoonful’s sunny sound. “We were grateful to the Beatles for reminding us of our rock & roll roots,” said Sebastian, “but we wanted to cut out the English middlemen, so to speak, and get down to making this new music as an ‘American band.'””

Read the interview at Epiphone

John Sebastian on TKA