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"Spain" is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. It is likely Corea's most recognized piece, and is considered a jazz standard.[1][2][3][4]
"Spain" was composed in 1971 and appeared in its original (and best-known) rendition on the album Light as a Feather,[5] with performances by Corea (Rhodes electric piano), Airto Moreira (drums), Flora Purim (vocals and percussion), Stanley Clarke (bass), and Joe Farrell (flute).[6] It has been recorded in several versions, by Corea himself as well as by other artists, including a flamenco version by Paco de Lucía, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin in the 1980s, and a progressive bluegrass version by Béla Fleck in 1979. A version with lyrics by Al Jarreau, "Spain (I Can Recall)", appeared on the 1980 album This Time. More recently, Corea had performed his composition as a duo with Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara. A version of "Spain" was performed by Stevie Wonder at his 2008 Concert in London. The introduction used in the song is from Concierto de Aranjuez, a guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo.
The Light as a Feather version of "Spain" received two Grammy nominations, for Best Instrumental Arrangement and for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a Group. In 2001, Corea was awarded the Best Instrumental Arrangement Grammy for "Spain for Sextet and Orchestra".
Composition
Corea opens the Light as a Feather version of "Spain" with the adagio from Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez.
Corea took inspiration from Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia for this piece.[7]
After the intro, the song switches to a fast, steady samba-like rhythm, in which the main theme and an improvisation part are repeated.
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\time 4/4
\key d \major
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t
% The Real Book says "Slowly", so it is reproduced here.
% The MIDI tempo, however, is set to the speed of Chick
% Corea's recordings; that is, quarter note at 230 BPM.
\tempo "Slowly" 4=230
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}
chordNames = \transpose c c, \chordmode {
\global
s1 |
s1 |
e1:m11~ |
e2:m11 fis2:7sus4~ |
fis1:7sus4~ |
fis2.:7sus4 fis4:7|
g1~ |
g1 |
fis1:7~ |
fis1:7 |
e1:m7 |
a1:7 |
d1:maj7~ |
d1:maj7 |
cis1:13.9- |
fis1:7.9+ |
b1:m11 |
b1:sus2
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melody = \relative c'' {
\bar ".|:"
d4 fis8 d e d b d |
r8 cis a cis r b g4 |
a4. a8 r4 a4~ |
a2 fis4. fis8 |
r4 fis2.~ |
fis2 r4 fis |
g4. a8~ a4 b |
cis4. d8~ d4 e |
d4. cis8~ cis2~ |
cis4 r r fis, |
g4. a8~ a4 b |
cis4. d8~ d4 e |
d e8 fis~ fis2 |
r2 r8 e r d |
cis4. d8~ d4 e |
d2 cis |
cis4. b8~ b2~ |
b2 r |
\bar "||"
}
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The chord progression used during the improvisation part is based on harmonic progressions in Rodrigo's concerto. It runs as follows:
| Gmaj7 | F#7 | Em7 A7 | Dmaj7 (Gmaj7) | C#7 F#7 | Bm B7 |
Appearances
By Chick Corea
- Light as a Feather (1972) – Chick Corea and Return to Forever
- Akoustic Band (1989) – Chick Corea Akoustic Band
- Play (1990) – Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin
- Return to the Seventh Galaxy: The Anthology (CD 1996) – Chick Corea, Bill Connors, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White
- Alexia In a Jazz Mood (1996) – Chick Corea and Alexia Vassiliou
- Solo Piano: Originals (2000) – Chick Corea
- Corea.Concerto (2001) – Chick Corea with Origin and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Rendezvous in New York (CD 2003, DVD 2005) – Chick Corea Akoustic Band
- Elektric Band: Live at Montreux 2004 (2004) – Chick Corea Elektric Band
- Akoustic Band 1991 (DVD 2005) – Chick Corea Akoustic Band
- Duet (2009) – Chick Corea and Hiromi Uehara
- Trilogy (2013) – Chick Corea with Christian McBride and Brian Blade
Covers
- Manhattan Wildlife Refuge (1974) – Bill Watrous
- Live and Improvised (1976) – Blood Sweat & Tears
- Something You Got (1977) – Art Farmer
- Crossing the Tracks (1979) – Béla Fleck
- This Time (1980) – Al Jarreau
- Le Beirut (1984) – Fairuz
- Live With Vic Juris (1985) – Bireli Lagrene
- Jaco Pastorius & Bireli Lagrene & Alex Bally (1985) – Bireli Lagrene and Jaco Pastorius
- New Weave (1986) – Rare Silk
- Somewhere Out There (1986) – Airmen of Note
- Naurava Kulkuri (1986) – Vesa-Matti Loiri
- Sensacion (1987) – Tito Puente
- Daybreak (1987) – Béla Fleck
- Thousand Wave (1988) – Takahiro Matsumoto
- GRP All-Star Big Band (1992) – GRP All-Star Big Band
- Rosenberg Trio: Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival (1993) – Rosenberg Trio
- Ng La banda (Cuba) Montreaux Jazz Festival 1993
- Zlatko (1995) – Zlatko Manojlović
- DGQ-20 (1996) – David Grisman Quintet
- Two Guitars One Passion (1996) – Lara & Reyes
- Tango del Fuego (1999) – James Galway
- Czechmate (1999) – Druha Trava
- Spain (2000) – Michel Camilo & Tomatito
- La Nuit Des Gitans (2001) – Raphael Fays
- Tribute album (2001) – Emilie-Claire Barlow
- Crosscurrent (2005) – Jake Shimabukuro
- Gently Weeps (2006) – Jake Shimabukuro
- Steps (2009) – Cluster
- Live at Last (2008) – Stevie Wonder
- The Chick Corea Songbook (2009) – The Manhattan Transfer
- Acoustic Live (2009) – Pegasus (Issei Noro and Tetsuo Sakurai)
- Jazz and the Philharmonic – Chick Corea, Eric Owens, Terence Blanchard, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra
- Kind of Spain (2017) – Wolfgang Haffner
- Spain (2017) – Groove for Thought
- Spain (2019) – The String Queens
- Spain (2020) – Dewa 19
References
- ^ "Chick Corea". Blue Note. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
- ^ Nastos, Michael G., ""Return to Forever Light as a Feather (1973) album review | AllMusic"", allmusic.com, retrieved 2024-04-28,
Perhaps Corea's definitive song of all time, and covered ad infinitum by professional and school bands, "Spain" retains the quirky melody, handclapped interlude, up-and-down dynamics, exciting jam section, and variation in time, tempo, and colorations that always command interest despite a running time of near ten minutes.
- ^ Collar, Matt. "Chick Corea Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
[...] penning such beloved jazz standards as "Spain," [...] Light as a Feather. Another Top Ten jazz album, it earned Corea his first two Grammy nominations, including Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Spain," largely considered his best-known song.
- ^ Swenson, John, ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone jazz record guide. A Random House/Rolling Stone Press Book (1st ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-72643-4.
Several modern jazz classics reside within, including "You're Everything", "500 Miles High" and "Spain."
- ^ Hoyt, Alex (2011-11-25). "How Chick Corea Wrote 'Spain'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
- ^ Herzig, Monika (2017). "Return to Forever— The Acoustic Years". Experiencing Chick Corea: a listener's companion. The Listener's Companion. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-4469-6.
- ^ Bălan, Florin (30 December 2022). "Fundamental Analysis of Chick Corea's Improvisation in Spain (1972)". Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai - Musica. 67 (2): 99–110. doi:10.24193/subbmusica.2022.spiss2.07.
- ^ Corea, Chick (n.d.). "Spain". The Real Book. C Instruments. Vol. 4. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard. p. 420. ISBN 978-1-4234-2542-7.