R.I.P. Chick Corea photo by Sakurai Toshi Chick Corea, the influential jazz keyboardist and composer, has died. The news was confirmed by Dan Muse, Corea’s web and marketing manager, who confirmed the cause of death as “a rare form of cancer which was only discovered very recently.” Corea was 79. Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1941. His father was a jazz trumpeter, exposing Corea to music and records from artists like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie early on. As a child, Corea learned to play the piano and drums. In his young adulthood, Corea would spend brief stints studying music at both Columbia University and Julliard but ultimately dropped out of both. Instead, he spent the ‘60s performing with the likes of Gillespie, Stan Getz, Blue Mitchell, and numerous others. In 1968 he released