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"Spain" is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. It is likely Corea's most recognized piece, and is considered a jazz standard.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

"Spain" was composed in 1971 and appeared in its original (and best-known) rendition on the album Light as a Feather,^[5] with performances by Corea (Rhodes electric piano), Airto Moreira (drums), Flora Purim (vocals and percussion), Stanley Clarke (bass), and Joe Farrell (flute).^[6] It has been recorded in several versions, by Corea himself as well as by other artists, including a flamenco version by Paco de Lucía, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin in the 1980s, and a progressive bluegrass version by Béla Fleck in 1979. A version with lyrics by Al Jarreau, "Spain (I Can Recall)", appeared on the 1980 album This Time. More recently, Corea had performed his composition as a duo with Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara. A version of "Spain" was performed by Stevie Wonder at his 2008 Concert in London. The introduction used in the song is from Concierto de Aranjuez, a guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo.

The Light as a Feather version of "Spain" received two Grammy nominations, for Best Instrumental Arrangement and for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a Group. In 2001, Corea was awarded the Best Instrumental Arrangement Grammy for "Spain for Sextet and Orchestra".

Composition

Corea opens the Light as a Feather version of "Spain" with the adagio from Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez.

Corea took inspiration from Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia for this piece.^[7]

After the intro, the song switches to a fast, steady samba-like rhythm, in which the main theme and an improvisation part are repeated.

The chord progression used during the improvisation part is based on harmonic progressions in Rodrigo's concerto. It runs as follows:

 | Gmaj7 | F#7 | Em7 A7 | Dmaj7 (Gmaj7) | C#7 F#7 | Bm B7 |

Appearances

By Chick Corea

Light as a Feather (1972) – Chick Corea and Return to Forever
Akoustic Band (1989) – Chick Corea Akoustic Band
Play (1990) – Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin
Return to the Seventh Galaxy: The Anthology (CD 1996) – Chick Corea, Bill Connors, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White
Alexia In a Jazz Mood (1996) – Chick Corea and Alexia Vassiliou
Solo Piano: Originals (2000) – Chick Corea
Corea.Concerto (2001) – Chick Corea with Origin and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Rendezvous in New York (CD 2003, DVD 2005) – Chick Corea Akoustic Band
Elektric Band: Live at Montreux 2004 (2004) – Chick Corea Elektric Band
Akoustic Band 1991 (DVD 2005) – Chick Corea Akoustic Band
Duet (2009) – Chick Corea and Hiromi Uehara
Trilogy (2013) – Chick Corea with Christian McBride and Brian Blade

Covers

Manhattan Wildlife Refuge (1974) – Bill Watrous
Live and Improvised (1976) – Blood Sweat & Tears
Something You Got (1977) – Art Farmer
Crossing the Tracks (1979) – Béla Fleck
This Time (1980) – Al Jarreau
Le Beirut (1984) – Fairuz
Live With Vic Juris (1985) – Bireli Lagrene
Jaco Pastorius & Bireli Lagrene & Alex Bally (1985) – Bireli Lagrene and Jaco Pastorius
New Weave (1986) – Rare Silk
Somewhere Out There (1986) – Airmen of Note
Naurava Kulkuri (1986) – Vesa-Matti Loiri
Sensacion (1987) – Tito Puente
Daybreak (1987) – Béla Fleck
Thousand Wave (1988) – Takahiro Matsumoto
GRP All-Star Big Band (1992) – GRP All-Star Big Band
Rosenberg Trio: Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival (1993) – Rosenberg Trio
Ng La banda (Cuba) Montreaux Jazz Festival 1993
Zlatko (1995) – Zlatko Manojlović
DGQ-20 (1996) – David Grisman Quintet
Two Guitars One Passion (1996) – Lara & Reyes
Tango del Fuego (1999) – James Galway
Czechmate (1999) – Druha Trava
Spain (2000) – Michel Camilo & Tomatito
La Nuit Des Gitans (2001) – Raphael Fays
Tribute album (2001) – Emilie-Claire Barlow
Crosscurrent (2005) – Jake Shimabukuro
Gently Weeps (2006) – Jake Shimabukuro
Steps (2009) – Cluster
Live at Last (2008) – Stevie Wonder
The Chick Corea Songbook (2009) – The Manhattan Transfer
Acoustic Live (2009) – Pegasus (Issei Noro and Tetsuo Sakurai)
Jazz and the Philharmonic – Chick Corea, Eric Owens, Terence Blanchard, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra
Kind of Spain (2017) – Wolfgang Haffner
Spain (2017) – Groove for Thought
Spain (2019) – The String Queens
Spain (2020) – Dewa 19

References

^ "Chick Corea". Blue Note. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
^ Nastos, Michael G., ""Return to Forever Light as a Feather (1973) album review | AllMusic"", allmusic.com, retrieved 2024-04-28, Perhaps Corea's definitive song of all time, and covered ad infinitum by professional and school bands, "Spain" retains the quirky melody, handclapped interlude, up-and-down dynamics, exciting jam section, and variation in time, tempo, and colorations that always command interest despite a running time of near ten minutes.
^ Collar, Matt. "Chick Corea Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2024-04-28. [...] penning such beloved jazz standards as "Spain," [...] Light as a Feather. Another Top Ten jazz album, it earned Corea his first two Grammy nominations, including Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Spain," largely considered his best-known song.
^ Swenson, John, ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone jazz record guide. A Random House/Rolling Stone Press Book (1st ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-72643-4. Several modern jazz classics reside within, including "You're Everything", "500 Miles High" and "Spain."
^ Hoyt, Alex (2011-11-25). "How Chick Corea Wrote 'Spain'". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
^ Herzig, Monika (2017). "Return to Forever— The Acoustic Years". Experiencing Chick Corea: a listener's companion. The Listener's Companion. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-4469-6.
^ Bălan, Florin (30 December 2022). "Fundamental Analysis of Chick Corea's Improvisation in Spain (1972)". Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai - Musica. 67 (2): 99–110. doi:10.24193/subbmusica.2022.spiss2.07.