On February 9th, legendary jazz composer Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea - also known for his work as a keyboardist and band leader - passed away at the age of 79 following a battle with cancer. Guitar legend Steve Vai posted the following tribute to Corea.

Vai: "I was very fortunate to have had an opportunity to work with the great Chick Corea. It was on the song 'Rumble' for a record called The Songs of West Side Story. This is a brilliant piece of music that was arranged by the phenomenal David Pack in which he created this rumble battle feel between 'Chick Corea’s Electrik Band vs. Steve Vai’s Monsters.' It was recorded live at Ocean Way Studios and I recall that between both bands we had perhaps 15 so musicians in the studio. It remains one of the highlight studio experiences for me.
 
One of the things that I can remember so vividly was the intro. The intro was meant to start with about a minute of Chick playing an improvised solo on piano, and then we would all come in. After Chick did the intro, we were stunned into silence. I could hardly start the song being so absolutely blown away by the immense genius of this man's performance. We did perhaps three takes of the entire song and each time Chick took to the piano to do his intro, something completely different but completely blow-away came out of him. It was remarkable. 

But perhaps the most fun came when Chick came up to my Mothership Studio with his electric piano that was slung over his body like a guitar, and we really dueled. So much fun. 

Here is a link to the recorded version. You can hear Chick's Elektrik band panned somewhat left, and my 'Monsters' panned right. It really is quite cool and has such an intense energy to it. Absolutely brilliant arrangement by David Pack and it was so so so so fantastic to be in that room with all those musicians and have that opportunity. It’s all one take and we were reading the music, but it retains that high energy live feel. 

Chick was brilliant beyond beyond. He brought us the first real taste of rich fusion music with the historic Return To Forever. I was 15 years old when I saw this band at Hofstra Playhouse and it had a tremendous impact on me. This is where I first heard one of my most powerful sources of inspiration, the great Al Di Meola. I highly recommend checking out the music of Return To Forever. It’s a gift to music lovers.
 
Rest In Peace Dear Chick, and thank you for all you gave us."

Chick Corea's compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" and "Windows" are widely considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late '60s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the '70s he formed Return To Forever. Along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, he is considered one of the most influential jazz pianists of the post-John Coltrane era. Corea continued to collaborate frequently while exploring different musical styles throughout the '80s and '90s. He won 23 Grammy Awards and was nominated over 60 times.