CHICK COREA

jazz pianist

“I remember the first record store that I used to go to on Mass. Ave. in Boston, where I grew up. There was a guy who worked there named Jimmy, who was a friend to me and my drummer buddy Lenny Nelson. And I remember going in there and checking with Jimmy on the release of some of the records that I was waiting to get.

“I think that it was probably later on, but I remember hearing about the first Miles Davis solo album. It was called ‘Dig,’ and it had Sonny Rollins on it. And Horace Silver and Percy Heath and, I think, Art Blakey, too.

“I used to go by the store and ask Jimmy, ‘Is it in yet? Is it in yet?’ And I remember that when it finally did come in, me and my friend Lenny just devoured the album.

“But actually some of the very first records that I remember listening to were 78s that my dad owned -- things like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie’s recordings on Roost and some of Bud Powell’s music.”