Jazz great Armando "Chick" Corea was honored with a street naming dedication on May 20, 2001 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The street is located between Walnut and Arlington Street on Everett Avenue in the suburb of Boston, and the ceremony featured a live band playing Corea's music as well as a reception at the New Williams School, which Corea attended.

Corea was born in Chelsea in 1941 and lived there at 149 Chestnut Street. His high school yearbook listed him as "most likely to succeed" and "most musical". He had ambitions of being a jazz musician and songwriter, both of which have clearly been fulfilled by his career.

Corea worked early on with bandleaders such as Cal Tjader and Mongo Santamaria, giving him a firm grounding in the Latin jazz that has influenced much of his work over the years. Not long into his career, he played with Miles Davis on the historic Bitches Brew sessions, a groundbreaking electronic jazz work that presaged fusion. Next, Chick formed his own avant-garde jazz group, Circle, working with bassist Dave Holland, drummer Barry Altschul, and saxophonist Anthony Braxton.

The 1970s saw the formation of Corea's electronic fusion band Return To Forever, featuring Lenny White (drums), Stanley Clarke (bass), and Al Di Meola (guitar), a group that based its sound on Corea's Moog synthesizer sound as well as the electric basswork of Clarke and the soaring guitar of Di Meola. The group was extremely popular, recording such albums as Romantic Warrior and No Mystery. Chick continued to work with a variety of musicians, spending the 1980s exploring many musical styles, sometimes working with other jazz musicians on more mainstream jazz projects, sometimes continuing his fusion work with the Elektric Band.

In 1992 Corea formed Stretch records, a label committed to "focusing more on freshness and creativity than on musical style." In 1996 Stretch became a subsidiary of Concord Records, and Corea joined its roster of artists, recording Remembering Bud Powell. Since then, he has recorded classical music, worked with Gary Burton (whom he had previously worked with briefly in the 70s), and formed the sextet Origin. Now he has stepped out with the Origin rhythm section to record his newest work, the trio-based Past, Present, and Futures.

You can visit Corea's official website at www.chickcorea.com