An Incredible Force: Elio Villafranca on Chick Corea
The Cuban pianist reflects on the influence of Chick Corea on his life and music
This piece was written for the Jazz at Lincoln Center concert program tied to Elio’s upcoming appearance at Dizzy’s Club on June 12-13. Elio had a unique personal and professional relationship with the legendary pianist.
The first time Elio Villafranca heard the music of Chick Corea, he was studying classical music with Russian teachers at a conservatory in Havana. Listening to the 1981 album Three Quartets (with Michael Brecker, Eddie Gomez, and Steve Gadd), the young pianist was floored. “It was one of the most sophisticated things that I’d heard, even in comparison with classical music,” he recalls. “I was fascinated with Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff, but when I heard Three Quartets, I was like, ‘What the heck is this?’ That made me curious, and it made me want to dig deeper into his music.”
Villafranca would go on to not only immerse himself in Corea’s music and explore jazz, but also to befriend the late pianist and composer, with whom he would play many times. This June 12-13 at Dizzy’s Club, Villafranca will celebrate what would have been Corea’s 85th birthday by drawing upon those collaborations and presenting his Chick Corea Afro-Caribbean Experience project.
Dizzy’s is a fitting setting for these shows because that’s where Villafranca first met Corea back in 2012. “Our friendship started right there,” he explains. “Sometimes I used to go to his house in Clearwater to play in one of his master classes. He would also invite me to perform duets with him or play with his band. We were doing a lot of experimental things.”
Corea also invited the Cuban pianist to do a festival dedicated to his music at Jazz at Lincoln Center. “I was just thinking, okay, what would I offer? Because his music is so complete and so incredible,” Villafranca says. “Then that’s when I realized that I’ve been listening to his music in Cuba, where there was always percussion around. I decided I could do a Chick Corea Afro-Caribbean experience project, expanding beyond Cuba to rhythms from Haiti and other Caribbean countries.” That same concept will be the theme of his performances at Dizzy’s, with assists from band members Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Jaleel Shaw (saxophones), Edward Perez (bass), E.J. Strickland (drums), and Luisito Quintero (percussion).
When asked what he finds most unique about Corea, Villafranca immediately talks about the pianist’s relentless drive for creative collaboration. “Chick was a very creative, innovative type of person,” he explains. “I know that we say that for every jazz musician, but he was a completely different caliber. He was always in the business of making music all the time, one hundred percent. Also, he understood that the art of making music is about being together and making it happen together. Chick Corea represented for all of us an incredible force of music.”