CHICK COREA Announces Two-Month Birthday Celebration at The Blue Note

8 Consecutive Weeks, 80 Shows,

15 Legendary Bands, 60 Iconic Musicians

October 19 through December 12, 2016 in New York City

This fall, 22-time GRAMMY® Award-winning keyboardist and composer Chick Corea will make history with an unprecedented two-month 75th birthday celebration at The Blue Note, his musical home in New York City.

Running October 19 through December 12, 2016, the 80-show engagement will feature Corea leading 15 legendary bands comprised of 60 musical friends from over half a century, marking a birthday celebration groundbreaking in scale, artistry and sheer musical power.

Select highlights include:

"The Music of Return to Forever & More"

The premiere of two unique ensembles playing the music of Return to Forever over the course of two respective weeks: Acoustic featuring Ravi Coltrane (sax), Hubert Laws (flute), Avishai Cohen (bass), and Lenny White (drums); and Electric featuring John McLaughlin (guitar), Victor Wooten (bass), and Lenny White (drums).

"For Miles"

A celebration of the music of Miles Davis, featuring Kenny Garrett (saxophone) Wallace Roney (trumpet), Mike Stern (guitar), Marcus Miller (bass) and Brian Blade (drums).

Steve Gadd Week

A deep dive into Corea's longtime musical partnership with drummer Steve Gadd through two different ensembles:  Three Quartets featuring bassist Eddie Gomez (bass) and Ben Solomon (saxo) and The Leprechaun Band.

"Experiments in Electronica"

Since the 1960s, Corea's pioneering work on electronic keyboards (spanning Miles Davis, Return to Forever and the Elektric Band) has inspired generations of electronic musical innovators. This special two-night run will offer Chick's latest take on all things electronic, joined by Marcus Gilmore (drums) and leading genre-defying electronic explorers (TBA).

Corea's first Blue Note birthday run, marking his 60th anniversary in the fall of 2001, was a cathartic two-week engagement for a city just beginning to heal following the 9/11 attacks. The run produced the GRAMMY®-winning album Rendezvous in New York. In November 2011, he returned to The Blue Note with a month-long 70th birthday residency featuring countless artistic giants. This year's 75th birthday celebration marks his most ambitious Blue Note residency ever.

"From the level of talent that will be presented to the number of shows to the overall duration, this is an unrivaled residency in so many ways," says Steven Bensusan, President of Blue Note Entertainment Group. "You never see an artist take residency in a venue for this amount of time consecutively, and on this scale."

"Though most importantly, the fact that it commemorates our longtime friend and legend Chick Corea's 75th birthday makes this truly special, especially given Blue Note's deep relationship with Chick over the past 30 years," adds Bensusan. "We're looking forward to making history with Chick this fall."

Chick Corea's 75th Birthday Celebration will feature two shows nightly, at 8pm and 10:30pm.

CHICK COREA BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT THE BLUE NOTE

Full Schedule

Wednesday - Sunday, October 19-23

THE CHICK COREA ELEKTRIC BAND

Chick Corea (keyboards), Eric Marienthal (saxes), Frank Gamble (guitar), John Patitucci (bass), Dave Weckl (drums)

Wednesday - Sunday, October 26-30

FOR MILES

Chick Corea (keyboards), Kenny Garrett (saxes), Wallace Roney (trumpet), Mike Stern (guitar), Marcus Miller (bass), Brian Blade (drums)

Wednesday - Thursday, November 2-3

THREE QUARTETS BAND

Chick Corea (piano), Steve Gadd (drums), Eddie Gomez (bass), Ben Solomon (sax)

Friday - Sunday, November 4-6

THE LEPRECHAUN BAND

Chick Corea (keyboards), Steve Gadd (drums), Gayle Moran Corea (vocals), Steve Wilson (sax & flute), Michael Rodriguez (trumpet), Steve Davis (trombone), Eddie Gomez (acoustic bass), TBA (electric bass)

Wednesday - Thursday, November 9-10

EXPERIMENTS IN ELECTRONICA

Chick Corea (keyboards + computers), Marcus Gilmore (drums); Leading Genre-Defying Electronic Explorers (TBA)

Friday - Sunday, November 11 - 13

CHICK'S FLAMENCO HEART

Chick Corea (keyboards), Jorge Pardo (sax & flute), Niño Josele (acoustic guitar), Carles Benevant (bass), Tom Brechtlein (drums), Luisito Quintero (percussion), Flamenco Dancer (TBA), Vocalist (TBA)

Wednesday - Thursday, November 16-17

THE CHICK COREA BIG BAND

Chick Corea (keyboards), Erlend Skomsvoll (arranger & conductor), the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - 13-Piece Big Band (8 horns, guitar, bass & drums)

Friday - Sunday, November 18-20

CHICK COREA PIANO DUETS

Artists TBA (Different Pianist Each Night)

Tuesday - Wednesday, November 22 & 23

CHICK COREA & GARY BURTON with the Harlem String Quartet

Chick Corea (piano), Gary Burton (vibes), Ilmar Gavilán (violin), Melissa White (violin),

Jaime Amador (viola), Felix Umansky (cello)

Friday - Sunday, November 25-27

ORIGIN II

Chick Corea (piano), Ravi Coltrane (sax),

Steve Wilson (sax & flute), Steve Davis (trombone), Carlitos Del Puerto (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums)

Wednesday - Sunday, November 30 - December 4

THE MUSIC OF RETURN TO FOREVER AND MORE (ACOUSTIC)

Chick Corea (keyboards), Ravi Coltrane (sax), Hubert Laws (flute), Avishai Cohen (bass), Lenny White (drums)

Wednesday, December 7

TBA

Thursday - Sunday, December 8-12

THE MUSIC OF RETURN TO FOREVER AND MORE (ELECTRIC)

Chick Corea (keyboards), John McLaughlin (guitar), Victor Wooten (bass), Lenny White (drums)