RETURN TO CHICK COREA is a quartet-based music tribute to the great jazz composer, enhanced with additional original compositions created in the characteristic Spanish-infused style of Corea.

The RETURN TO CHICK COREA band was formed as a concept exchange between bassist Bruce Phares and pianist Francesco Crosara. A spirited conversation after an engaging duet performance led to the initial idea of a concert of all-Chick-Corea compositions, a natural for Crosara’s Corea-influenced keyboard virtuosity, as well as Phares’ style of bass playing. After a pilot performance, Crosara, Phares, and sax-wizard Alexey Nikolaev solidified the concept into the current “Return to Chick Corea” group with the great Mark Ivester on drums. The repertoire spans freely through Corea’s 5 decades of music interspersed with original compositions by Crosara written in the style of the maestro.