Chick Corea

Abstract

Chick Corea’s prolific compositional career began in the 1960s, even if he likely went on to greater acclaim in the 1970s with compositions such as “La Fiesta” and “Crystal Silence.” “Windows” (Inner Space) uses ascending perfect fifth progressions as a large-scale harmonic frame for the composition, although harmonic substitutions expand that frame, and the skeletal melody (often appearing on metrical downbeats) creates longer underlying lines. A comparison of the recording with Corea’s copyright deposit shows a degree of evolution in the composition, particularly through harmonic inversions and stepwise bass motion. “Inner Space” (Inner Space) uses a melodic major third axis progression (in the introduction and later in the composition), but particular harmonic substitutions suggest a second-order grammar in which the progressions do not shadow the melodic axis. As with many Corea compositions from the 1960s, a centrifugal harmonic progression closes with an expanded harmonic turnaround to return to the m. 1 harmony. Three versions of “Song of the Wind” (Complete “Is” Sessions, Joe Farrell Quartet, Piano Improvisations vol. 1) illustrate Corea’s move to a more complex harmonic language, using polychords and expanded pedal points. Despite stark differences between the more progressive harmonic language of “Song of the Wind” and his earlier “Windows,” a comparison of the melodic designs of both jazz waltzes indicates some overall structural similarities.