The spontaneous drum fills were perfectly timed and you’d have to be a pretty experienced drummer to be able to do it at such a fast pace. The drums especially to solo and be able to keep a steady jazz samba rhythm at such a fast pace. The percussion solos were also impressive. The flute player’s solo ornaments the music with such gracefulness in the melodic theme of the piece and even ventured out on his own. The flute takes second place with its versatility among the other instruments. The bass solo was almost on par from the original recording with its arpeggio sweeps and even plucked some chords with a slap bass technique.

The most impressive solo to me in the performance and in original recording is the bass solo. The piano, bass guitar, flutes, brass, and percussion all took turns soloing. Like the original recording, each musician takes turns in the spotlight to display their musicianship skills. In the opening arrangement of the song, There is a Flamenco style of playing on the piano, implying a dramatic setting to set the mood before heading into an elegant melodic flare. Chick Corea’s instrumental of “Spain” is influenced from traditional Spanish music.

The chord progression used during the improvisation part is based on harmonic progressions of GMAJ7, F#7, Em7, A7, DMAJ7, C#7, F#7, Bm, B7. The claps are done on the 1 and the 3 and then falls back into a repeat of the fast paced Latin jazz samba rhythm. At the break of the song, the listener is required to clap along to the beat which is indeed a part of the original recording and sheet music. The flutes are accompanying the piano’s melody, while the business keeps a fast and steady pace. After the intro, the song switches to a fast, Latin jazz samba rhythm, in which the main theme and an improvisation part are repeated. The percussion and woodwind instruments are then introduced. The song is introduced with a lengthy piano solo with a cello in the background complimenting the piano.

It is played in common time(4/4) and is originally played at a very fast pace. This February, I witnessed Lehman College’s Latin Jazz Band perform a cover to Spain. Spain was composed in 1971 and appeared in its original and most well known rendition on the album Light As A Feather. It is likely Corea’s most recognized piece, and some would consider it a modern jazz standard. Spain is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. As a result of my growing interest of Latin and Jazz music, I decided for my blog post to be on the song Spain by Chick Corea.

Chick corea spain transcription pdf