Boston's white pianist Armando "Chick" Corea (1941) moved to New York in 1961 and cut his teeth in Latin-jazz combos. He rapidly transitioned from the hard bop of Tones For Joan's Bones (december 1966), also released as Inner Space, with the lengthy Litha and Straight up and Down (Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Farrell on flute and tenor saxophone, Steve Swallow on bass, Joe Chambers on drums), to the free jazz of Now He Sings Now He Sobs (march 1968), with Steps Now He Sings Now He Sobs, in a trio with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes. Corea used Bud Powell's style as a launching pad but expanded it with a lyrical, chromatic, percussive and fibrillating technique.

After collaborating with Stan Getz on Sweet Rain (1967), Corea was hired by Miles Davis to replace Herbie Hancock on electric piano.

After leaving Davis, Corea formed Circle, a quartet with avantgarde saxophonist Anthony Braxton, double-bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul. The Gathering (may 1971) contained only one 42-minute Corea composition, the title-track, and each of the four members played multiple instruments. Circle was exploring the boundaries of free jazz and classical avantgarde, and Braxton would make an entire career out of that idea.

At first Corea continued that exploration of extremely free forms with Is (june 1969), mainly taken up by the 29-minute Is, and Sundance (may 1969), both in the company of trumpeter Woody Shaw, flutist Hubert Laws, tenor saxophonist Bennie Maupin, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette and a second drummer, and with The Song of Singing (april 1970) and A.R.C. (january 1971), both in a trio with Holland and Altschul, although the material was often uneven and inconclusive.

But then he pulled back from the brink of the abyss of the avantgarde. He penned two volumes of Piano Improvisations (april 1971), including Sometime Ago, the eight-movement suite Where Are You Now and (on the second volume) the five-movement A New Place, that were romantic and impressionistic. He devoted a collaboration with vibraphonist Gary Burton, Crystal Silence (november 1972), to melodic chamber jazz. And he formed one of the pioneering fusion bands, Return to Forever, with Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim, reed player Joe Farrell, bassist Stanley Clarke and Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira, and rediscovered his Latin roots. Return To Forever (february 1972) introduced a new standard of light jazz via the melodic Return To Forever, the oneiric Crystal Silence, and the 23-minute medley of Sometime Ago and the effervescent La Fiesta. Light as a Feather (october 1972) was even more relaxed (bordering on balladry) and included Light as a Feather, 500 Miles High and one of Corea's most famous compositions, Spain (basically a rewrite of Steps). Compared with the other fusion bands of the time, this first version of Return To Forever displayed more of a spiritual than an earthly tone. The rock element was kept in the background, overwhelmed by a neoclassical sensibility. But the sound changed dramatically on Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (august 1973), recorded by a Return To Forever that was a rocking (and not so much Latin) quartet with Corea on electric keyboards, Clarke, electric guitarist Bill Connors (specialized in the distorted sound of psychedelic rock) and drummer Lenny White. The influence of Herbie Hancock and the Mahavishnu Orchestra was felt in Captain Senor Mouse and Space Circus. With the virtuoso guitarist Al DiMeola replacing Connors, Clarke coining a funky style at the electric bass and Corea embracing the synthesizer, Return To Forever cut the very popular trilogy of Where Have I Known You Before (july 1974), with the 14-minute Song to the Pharoah Kings, No Mystery (january 1975), with the Celebration Suite and No Mystery, and the medieval concept Romantic Warrior (february 1976), with Romantic Warrior and Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant, that mimicked British progressive-rock of the early 1970s both in sound and in theme. MusicMagic (february 1977) was a Return To Forever album only in name because it featured a 13-piece orchestra and vocals (and no electric guitar)

In the meantime Corea was flooding the market with erratic recordings, ranging from the gargantuan The Leprechaun (1975), that included The Leprechaun, to My Spanish Heart (october 1976), featuring vocals, synthesizer, string quartet and brass section, that included the multi-movement suites El Bozo and Spanish Fantasy, from The Mad Hatter (november 1977), with the Mad Hatter Rhapsody, to the quartet session of Friends (january 1978), with Samba Song and Friends, and some truly awful albums such as Secret Agent (june 1978) and Tap Step (december 1979). The three volumes of Delphi (october 1978) proved that Corea had lost whatever inspiration he may have had.

An artistic rebirth of sort was signaled by Live in Montreaux (july 1981), a quartet session with Joe Henderson on tenor sax, Gary Peacock on bass and Roy Haynes on drums that performed lengthy versions of Corea's Hairy Canary, Folk Song, Psalm and Quintet No 2, and especially by the acoustic Three Quartets (february 1981) with tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Steve Gadd, containing Quartet No 1, Quartet No 2 and Quartet No 3. Quintet No 3 appeared on Again & Again (march 1982). Corea's classical ambitions surfaced unabashedly on Fantasy for Two Pianos (1984), a collaboration with classical pianist Friedrich Gulda (a Mozart program); Duet Suite off Duet (october 1978), his second collaboration with Gary Burton, the seven-movement Lyric Suite for Sextet (september 1982), for piano, bass (Gary Burton) and a string quartet, and the five-movement Septet (october 1984).

Corea rarely ventured into free jazz anymore. The reunion with Vitous and Haynes, Trio Music (november 1981), contained five trio improvisations and two Corea-Vitous improvisations. Voyage (july 1984) was a set of improvised duets with flutist Steve Kujala.

In 1985 Corea formed the Elektrik band with virtuoso electric bassist John Patitucci, drummer Dave Weckl and a guitarist, indulging himself in the synthesizer. Elektric Band (january 1986), Light Years (may 1987), that expanded the quartet to a quintet with altoist Eric Marienthal and introduced new guitarist Frank Gambale, and Eye of the Beholder (may 1988) were collections of short fusion pieces. The band peaked with Inside Out (january 1990), that contained the 20-minute four-movement suite Tale Of Daring, and broke up after the mediocre Beneath the Mask (august 1991).

This project was followed by its antithesis, the Akoustic Band, a traditional jazz trio with Weckl and Patitucci that recorded Akoustic Band (january 1989) and Alive (december 1989). Lacking memorable compositions, the albums mainly highlighted the virtuoso playing of the bassist and the drummer.

Corea never hesitated to release an awful album, as proven by Play (summer 1990), a collaboration with vocalist Bobby McFerrin, the solo piano album Expressions (may 1994) the new Elektric Band's Paint the World (september 1993), the philosophical concept Time Warp (august 1995) for acoustic quartet, etc.

Native Sense (july 1997) was a new collaboration with vibraphonist Gary Burton and contained the nine-minute Rhumbata.

Origin, Corea's new acoustic project, recorded Live at The Blue Note (december 1997), A Week at The Blue Note (january 1998) and Change (january 1999).

His Piano Concerto, documented on Corea Concerto (april 1999), was scored for a symphony orchestra and jazz trio (Origin).

The Solo Piano (november 1999) and the trio Past, Present & Futures (september 2000) were hardly revolutionary.

The marathon Rendezvous In New York (december 2001) celebrated his 60th birthday. To the Stars (2003) was another lame Elektric Band reunion album. The Ultimate Adventure (2005) was another philosophical concept.

The double-CD Forever (recorded in 2009) documents the first ever trio by Chick Corea (here on piano and keyboards), Stanley Clarke (on acoustic and electric bass) and drummer Lenny White.

The mediocre double-disc set Forever (september 2009) documents live performances of the trio with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White.

The double-disc The Continents: Concerto For Jazz Quintet & Chamber Orchestra (june 2011) is mainly devoted to the eponymous concerto. The jazz quintet is: Chick Corea (on piano), Tim Garland (on soprano sax, bass clarinet, flute), Hans Glawishnig (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums) and Steve Davis (trombone).

The Vigil (january 2013) features the leader on grand piano and keyboards, backed by Tim Garland (tenor and soprano sax, bass clarinet, flute), Charles Altura (electric and acoustic guitar), Hadrien Feraud (bass), Roy Haynes' grandson Marcus Gilmore (drums), Pernell Saturnino (percussion), Gayle Moran Corea (vocals), Stanley Clarke (bass) and Ravi Coltrane (sax).

The triple-disc box-set The Musician documents 10 different bands for a total of 28 musicians performing live in 2011.

Chinese Butterfly (Concord, 2018) was a collaboration with Steve Gadd.

The triple-disc Trilogy (2013) documented the trio formed with Christian McBride (bass) and Brian Blade (drums), collecting live performances of 2010 and 2012 (notably the 30-minute piano sonata The Moon).

The double-disc Trilogy 2 (2019) collects live performances of 2010-16, mostly devoted to covers and standards, for example a 16-minute version of Now He Sings Now He Sobs.

The Montreux Years contains his performances at that festival from 1988 to 2010, notably: two compositions with his New Trio, featuring Avishai Cohen (bass) and Jeff Ballard (drums) in 2001; his Freedom Band, along with Christian McBride (double bass), Roy Haynes (bass) and Kenny Garrett (saxophone) in 2010; his Akoustic Band, with John Patitucci (bass) and Tom Brechtlein (drums) in 1988; his Elektric Band, again with Patitucci, ave Weckl (drums), Frank Gambale (guitar) and Eric Marienthal (saxophone) in 2004; two compositions with his Quartet, along with Patitucci, Gary Novak (drums) and BOB Berg (saxophone), in 1993; the Bavarian Chamber Philarmonic Orchestra, with another Quartet, comprising of Hans Glawischnig (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums) and Tim Garland (sax and flute), in 2006.