The Chick Corea Elektric Band

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The Chick Corea Elektric Band
Chick Corea
Frank Gambale
Eric Marienthal
John Patitucci
Dave Weckl

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The Chick Corea Elektric Band

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Band Credits

Chick Corea - piano and keyboards
Frank Gambale - guitar
Eric Marienthal - saxophones
John Patitucci - bass
Dave Weckl - drums

Text Description

The Chick Corea Elektric Band is one of very few jazz ensembles to truly revolutionize the artform. Their eponymous debut album came like a bolt from the blue in 1985, marrying the freight-train velocity of jazz, rock, latin and funk with sonic inventions that still sound futuristic. This is the classic quintet — Chick Corea on piano and keyboards, Dave Weckl on drums, John Patitucci on bass, Eric Marienthal on sax, Frank Gambale on guitar — that produced an untouchable string of albums in the 1980s. The shockwave of their influence runs from hip-hop to EDM to today's most essential jazz searchers like Snarky Puppy.

Photos

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Toshi Sakurai, courtesy Chick Corea Prod.

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Dan Muse, courtesy Chick Corea Prod.

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Photo credit is REQUIRED in all instances:
Dan Muse, courtesy Chick Corea Prod.

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Chick Corea

Chick Corea has attained iconic status in music. The keyboardist, composer and bandleader is a DownBeat Hall of Famer and NEA Jazz Master, as well as the fourth-most nominated artist in Grammy Awards history with 63 nods – and 22 wins, in addition to a number of Latin Grammys. From straight-ahead to avant-garde, bebop to jazz-rock fusion, children’s songs to chamber and symphonic works, Chick has touched an astonishing number of musical bases in his career since playing with the genre-shattering bands of Miles Davis in the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Yet Chick has never been more productive than in the 21st century, whether playing acoustic piano or electric keyboards, leading multiple bands, performing solo or collaborating with a who’s who of music. Underscoring this, he has been named Artist of the Year three times this decade in the DownBeat Readers Poll. Born in 1941 in Massachusetts, Chick remains a tireless creative spirit, continually reinventing himself through his art. As The New York Times has said, he is “a luminary, ebullient and eternally youthful.”

Frank Gambale

Grammy-winning guitar virtuoso Frank Gambale, exploded on the L.A. scene in the early ‘80’s. His meteoric rise to fame is a testament to his passion-powered playing – a style Rolling Stone called “ferocious.” Gambale is an inspired songwriter with over 250 songs published on 20+ albums. His music touches on many styles from rock, funk and jazz to R&B and some Latin and Brazillian influences. As a legendary guitarist, Gambale originated the sweep picking technique (a new way to play the instrument) and elevated it to a precise art form now standard in the guitar lexicon. Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny says of Frank: “I’d like to take a month off and study with Frank Gambale.” A musician’s musician, gifted composer, brilliant innovator and author of numerous instructional books and DVDs, Frank continues to reach unprecedented sonic and technical heights. His six string prowess and seemingly limitless vision point towards an exciting future of ground-breaking music.

Eric Marienthal

Eric Marienthal started his professional career in 1980 with famed New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt. After returning to Los Angeles Eric became a member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band. He recorded 6 CDs with the Chick Corea Elektric Band and won 2 Grammy Awards. Eric went on to perform with artists such as Elton John, Barbara Streisand, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Aaron Neville, Johnny Mathis, B.B. King, and many others. Among Eric’s 14 solo CDs, his latest is entitled Bridges, on Peak Records. Eight of the songs that Eric has recorded have made it to the Top 10 of the National Contemporary Jazz Radio Charts and three have made it to #1. Eric was voted as being one of the year’s “Favorite Alto Sax Players” in Jazziz Magazine’s Reader’s Poll along with David Sanborn and Phil Woods. Every summer for the past 17 years Eric has put on an annual fundraising concert for High Hopes, a non-profit that works with people who have suffered traumatic head injuries. With the help of many guest artists, these concerts to date have raise well over $1,500,000 for this charity.

John Patitucci

John Patitucci was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1959 and began playing the electric bass at age ten. He began performing and composing at age 12, at age 15 began to play the acoustic bass, and then started the piano at age 16. He quickly moved from playing soul and rock to blues, jazz and classical music. His eclectic tastes caused him to explore all types of music as a player and a composer. As a performer, John has played throughout the world with his own band and with jazz luminaries Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Stan Getz, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Michael Brecker, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson and many more.In 2015, John released his fourteenth solo recording, Brooklyn, on his own label, Three Faces Records. The recording features his latest band, “The John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet”, with Adam Rogers and Steve Cardenas on electric guitars, Brian Blade on bass and John playing electric basses exclusively. A documentary filmed by August Sky Films was just released in early 2016 and combines performance footage, behind the scenes footage of rehearsals and the recording of Brooklyn.

Dave Weckl

For more than 25 years, Dave Weckl has developed and maintained a reputation among fans, peers, and the international music community as one of the great living drummers. For this, he has received numerous accolades and honors; Modern Drummer inducted Dave into their Hall of Fame and named him “one of the 25 best drummers of all time.” Born in St. Louis Missouri, January 8th, 1960, to a mother who loved music and a father who played the piano as a hobby, Dave started playing drums around the age of 8. In 1985, Michael Brecker suggested to Chick Corea that he look into Dave’s services for his new Elektric Band. That was the beginning of a seven year relationship with both the Elektric and Akoustic Bands, including a Grammy for the first Akoustic Band release. The Elektric Band showcased Dave’s cutting-edge drumming and innovative use of electronic and acoustic drums, bringing him world-wide recognition. As a solo artist, Dave has recorded and produced nine recordings to date, including GRP/MCA solo releases Masterplan, Heads Up, and Hardwired. The Dave Weckl Band released five studio records, including: Rhythm Of The Soul, Synergy, Transition, Perpetual Motion, and Multiplicity. The band also released a hot live album, LIVE (and very plugged in) and a compilation of DWB and instructional videos entitled The Zone.