Watch Chick Corea Elektric Band Perform At Bern Jazz Festival In 1986

Chick Corea died this past week. The legendary jazz keyboardist had a remarkable career, influenced by towering figures in the genre like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and later performing with Miles Davis. Chick joined the latter’s band — stepping into the shoes of Herbie Hancock — in 1968, and played an integral role in the jazz-fusion movement.

But Corea was also an accomplished bandleader in his own right and much like his friend and collaborator Herbie Hancock, he left Davis’ band in 1970 and created his own highly influential jazz-fusion project, Return To Forever. After releasing their self-titled debut in 1972, the prolific group would go on to release an additional six studio albums between 1972 and 1977 as well as a live album in 1978.

While Return To Forever disbanded in the late ‘70s, Corea went on to form another group in the ‘80s, the Chick Corea Elektric Band. The band released their eponymous debut in 1986 and that same year performed at the Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland on April 25.

Along with Chick, the lineup included guitarist Scott Henderson, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Dave Weckl. With just one studio album under their belt at the time — they would go on to release four more in as many years — the set features material from The Chick Corea Elektric Band, with Corea kicking things off with the opening synth and Rhodes strains of “King Cockroach” before the band launches into the bebop-inflected opening in full force, which also contained a healthy dose of funk and featured Chick working on the whammy.

Corea comes out from behind his stacks for some keytar action on the classical Indian music influenced “India Town” and stays on the keytar for “Got A Match,” trading fiery runs with Patitucci and Henderson. Corea hopped back on the Rhodes for “Silver Temple” and “Yes My Dear” before the band closed things out with the almost industrial, “No Zone,’ showing off a number of the innovations Chick was renowned for.

To remember Chick Corea, check out the Chick Corea Elektric Band at the Bern Jazz Festival in 1986 for this edition of Sunday Cinema:

Setlist