Chick Corea praises jazz legend, founder of Scientology for musical success

Here are some excerpts from an article that caught my eye. It's about my favorite jazz musician, Chic Corea:

It's not often you hear the names Miles Davis and L. Ron Hubbard in the same sentence.

But Corea, who played with Davis in the late '60s-early '70s and exchanged letters with Hubbard for 15 years until his death in 1986, says both men taught him the importance of breaking down barriers and going his own way.

"Freedom to communicate, and freedom to think how you want to think -- to me that's the area where artists operate," says Corea. "I got that from Miles, and I learned it from Scientology."

In an interview about his concert Wednesday at Casino du Lac Leamy in the Ottawa, his first visit to the Ottawa area in 16 years, Corea seems eager to talk about how Hubbard and Davis influenced his music and changed his life.

Especially Hubbard.

"Scientology has enabled me to understand and develop my own strengths and to write music more quickly," he says. "It also helped me to become freer to create as I want to, not how others think I should."

There's certainly no denying Corea's output or individuality. His fleet, elegant piano style and occasional bursts of flowery Spanish-tinged romanticism have become distinctive jazz signposts.>> more