An article in the Tampa Bay Times pays fitting tribute to Chick Corea, winner of 22 Grammy Awards, according to the Times’ Jay Cridlin, and a Scientologist for more than 40 years.
The whole article is worth reading. I’m sharing a section that relates to Chick as a Scientologist:
“From his childhood growing up outside Boston, he was a piano prodigy, learning the trade from his father, a Dixieland trumpeter, and later studying, briefly, at Columbia and Juilliard. During the 1960s he shared stages with Cab Calloway, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz. In 1968, he replaced Herbie Hancock in Miles Davis’ band, appearing on landmark albums like Bitches Brew.
“It was around this time, as he was coming into his own as a bandleader, that Corea discovered the work of another towering figure: L. Ron Hubbard.
“The founder of Scientology ‘was a great artist himself as a writer,’ said Corea, who quickly became a fan of Hubbard’s science fiction writing and teachings. ‘He was magnificent.'”
“Living in Clearwater allows Corea to take Scientology courses at the church’s spiritual headquarters: “The idea is just to improve myself, and find out better ways to create and better ways to help myself and others,” he said. He has played numerous church events and written two albums, 2004’s To the Stars and 2006’s The Ultimate Adventure, based on Hubbard’s writings. He even collaborated with Hubbard on the founder’s own albums, 1982’s Space Jazz — a soundtrack to the novel Battlefield Earth — and 1986’s The Road to Freedom.
“‘Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet him,’ Corea said. ‘But we had a great letter line together, and I got some very nice arrangement suggestions, when he asked me if I would arrange some of the pieces. I made the arrangement, and sent it to him to see what he thought. It was a collaboration that we did via tape and cassette, that kind of thing. It was wonderful, just absolutely wonderful.’
“Some of Corea’s Scientology-based works were praised by fans outside the church — To the Stars and The Ultimate Adventure both earned Grammy nominations, with the latter winning two.”
The entire article can be found here: http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/music/for-chick-corea-clearwater-is-home-creatively-and-spiritually/2296675
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