Chick Corea Interview, 50 Years Later

As promised, here is the digitalized version of the article I wrote on Chick Corea for the Syracuse New Times in 1973. My first published article. I see some flaws but, overall, not bad.

Smiling, Urging, Playing as He Comes, Chick Corea Rides the 7th Galaxy on His Return to Forever

Syracuse New Times, October 21, 1973

By Alan Perlman

Sitting down and talking with Chick Corea is like watching him perform on stage. For Corea, communicating, especially communicating happiness, is a major force, influencing everything he says and does.

When he talks about his music he exhibits the same assurance that marks everything he plays. His eyes stare straight and deep and the pixyish smile disappears—yet he glows.

“The audience may applaud a lot or a little, but when the vibes are there I know,” he said after a particularly inspired set.

At 32, Corea has ascended the musical ranks, earning his stripes with Elvin Jones, Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, Herbie Mann, Blue Mitchell, Stan Getz and, most importantly, Miles Davis, the George Patton of jazz. Now he is leading his own band and playing the music he wants to play. Read more

An Early Adventure in Jazz and Journalism

Chick Corea, Return to Forever, 1973

In the fall of 1973, when I was 20 years old, I had the chutzpah to strut into the offices of the Syracuse New Times in Syracuse, NY, and inform them that I should be their new jazz critic. Although I was a journalism major at the Newhouse school, I had never published anything before in my life, not a word in my high school paper, not a syllable in my college newspaper. Not even an exclamation point anywhere! It was only by sheer luck that I was in the journalism school at all. My first two years in college were mostly a total waste. I didn’t get in to any of the schools to which I applied, so I had to go to Queens College, which was a couple of bus rides from my home in Bayside. I was still living with my parents for those two years, sharing a tiny room with my younger brother and sister, spending a lot more time at the race track and the poker table than in school, or anywhere else for that matter. Read more

Chick Corea

When I was 20 in 1973 I had the balls to walk into the offices of the Syracuse New Times and tell them I should be their jazz critic. The New Times was the alternative newspaper in Syracuse, the local version of the Village Voice, and I was a journalism student at the Newhouse School. I had never written anything professionally, nor had I even written anything for a school newspaper. But they didn’t have anybody to write about jazz at the time, so they gave me a shot. I reviewed a couple of albums and must have done OK because I walked into the office one day and the editor said Return to Forever was coming to the local nightclub on campus, called Jabberwocky, and they would like me to review the concert and interview Chick Corea. In fact, they had already set up a time and place for me to do the interview. Read more

An Old Jazz Collector Tribute To Charlie Parker

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. When I was breaking in as a journalist my first job was as the jazz critic for the Syracuse New Times, an alternative newspaper in Syracuse, NY. I did a bunch of interviews — Charles Mingus, Chick Corea, Larry Coryell, among others — record and concert reviews and other features. I once posted my Mingus Interview here at Jazz Collector. Most of the articles are long gone, not in my files, certainly not saved in any digital format — this was the early 1970s, nothing was digital then. However, I did save a copy of an article I wrote about Charlie Parker, which was timed to coincide with the 2oth anniversary of Bird’s death in 1975. I recently dug up the article and painstakingly retyped it into my computer and now it will be saved digitally forever and ever. And now, when people do a search of Charlie Parker and Al Perlman, I will forever be associated with Bird. It’s enough to put a big smile on my face, that thought. Me and Bird. I like it. Anyway, it’s a pretty well written article, if I must say so myself, but there are clearly youthful indiscretions and probably a little too much borrowing from Ross Russell’s Bird Lives, including the opening scene and some idle speculation that Bird got his nickname because he loved fried chicken. There are many stories to go with this article and how it got published — and how I got away with using the word “motherfucker.” But those are for another day. Oh, and I didn’t put that stupid headline on the article nor did I get to approve it. I’ve attached the article as a PDF to download for simple viewing. Here it is: Charlie Parker Article. I’m also going to see if I can post it below here without screwing up Jazz Collector and, to prove there really was an article to begin with, we have a picture of the original, from April 13, 1975. If you are going to comment, please be kind. I was only 22 years old at the time. Read more