by David Kirby

Forty years after releasing his first album as a leader—by some estimates with 100 recordings to his credit—Chick Corea is surfing one of the busiest and most ebulliently creative stretches of his career, at a time in life when some of his contemporaries may be tempted to ponder the comforts of semi-retirement on a fairway someplace.

The venerable jazz and fusion pianist finds himself on tour behind his latest release, The Ultimate Adventure, a heavily Latin- and Afro-beat-influenced tone poem interpretation of one of L. Ron Hubbard's science fiction novels.

"I can honestly say I'm having one of the best times of my life. The band has worked its way into the material and everybody's playing great. It feels wonderful," says Corea.

Like many other projects, this latest offering had its beginnings while he was doing something else, in this case touring with his Elektric Band in 2004, performing another interpretation of a Hubbard novel called To The Stars.

"I had only gotten a little way into writing the material for To The Stars when I knew I wanted to record it with the Elektric Band, so I kind of finished it with that band in mind," says Corea. "This project was a bit more piecemeal in that we kind of recorded it in two sets of sessions in L.A. We never really had everybody in the room at the same time like the last time; they all came when they had the time. Still, though, we recorded it more or less live in the studio."

Among the guest artists were Airto Moreira, the legendary Brazilian percussionist/vocalist that Corea first played with on the early-'70s incarnations of his fusion outfit Return to Forever. More than one critic has invoked the classic ECM release, Light as a Feather, as a point of comparison to the latest CD; Airto's signature percussion, dancing along the fringes of the beat, leaning into impromptu sparring with Corea's improvisations, exudes one of fusion's most fundamental presences.

"Airto is an amazing musician; it was great to play with him again after so long," says Corea. "In fact, we're going out in a couple of months with [bassist] Eddie Gomez to do some trio dates after this tour wraps up, I can't wait. It's been a long time since I've played with Eddie as well."

The Adventure project also featured legendary drummer Steve Gadd, former Paco de Lucia bassist Carlos Benevent and flutist Hubert Laws, the latter's miraculously melodic lines meshing with Corea's Rhodes in almost telepathic symbiosis.

"Gosh, it had been so many years since we played together, but he's always been a terrific player. It made me feel bad that I had let so many years go by," says Corea.

We wonder if all these reunions for The Ultimate Adventure might not have been presaged by Corea's 60th birthday celebration in New York in December 2001. Spanning three weeks of gigs with an encyclopedic roster of players representing the last four decades of American jazz, the proceedings were captured as an embarrassment of riches for the Coreaphile, a 10-DVD set titled Rendezvous In New York.

We wonder how the typically modest player himself felt after the whole thing was over. Exhausted?

"Like I was floating on a cloud, man. It made me realize the incredible richness my life has been, to have such a long past with so many great musicians," says Corea. "To tell you the truth, I approached the thing as one big party. If I had tried to plan out all the groups and try to make the thing some comprehensive career retrospective, I would have been a nervous wreck."

We remark that the excerpts we heard exuded a relaxed, unforced quality—it just didn't sound like anyone was trying to make history.

"Absolutely right," says Corea. "We just approached it as a chance to play with some friends, and I think that's why it turned out so well."

Corea is also preparing a piano concerto to be performed in conjunction with the Mozart 250th birthday celebration in Vienna in July.

"This is a real exciting challenge for me," he says. "Having these people approach me, a jazz pianist from America, to do this is a real honor."

As a composer who has always drawn from the visual for his compositions, we ask Corea how he approaches writing a classically structured piano concerto.

"That's an interesting question. As long as I've been playing, I've been attracted to the storytelling aspect of music—telling a story without words," he says. "But it's quite different with something like writing a piano concerto, absolutely. I don't rely as much on visuals... I mean, I can't. But I do have a theme for it, centered around freedom of speech, freedom of expression. The thing that we all value so much."

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