Composed and released in 1971, Chick Corea’s Spain has been an iconic jazz standard for decades. It appears on Chick’s jazz album Light as a Feather and is probably his most recognizable song.
Chick Corea was an American jazz pianist and innovator. His most famous songs and pieces include Armando’s Rhumba, Spain, and 500 Miles High. He was a member of Miles Davis’s band in the 1960’s and was one of the first people to introduce jazz fusion.
In 1971, he released his album Light as a Feather, where it received two Grammy nominations and was awarded the Best Instrumental Arrangement Grammy for Spain.
The song starts off with a slow intro, but quickly turns into a samba rhythm. There is a lot of repetition and reminiscence of the main melody in the solo section.
The song consists of Corea on a Rhodes electric piano, Flora Purim (vocals), Joe Farrel (Jazz flute), Stanley Clarkton (Bass), and Airto Moreira (Drums and percussion). The song does not feature any actual lyrics, but instead has Purim sing the melody in the background.
The song was written in B minor, which is the 14th most popular key for songs. The chords and melody are very complex in comparison to most songs. Despite the complex chords and melody, the tension between melody and chords is quite low. The song runs very smoothly, with barely any agitation within the notes.
Chords: Gmaj7 | F#7 | Em7 A7 | Dmaj7 (Gmaj7) | C#7 F#7 | Bm B7
Although Spain is a song that has little common occurrences in public, it is still a very well-known song in the jazz community. It is a hidden gem of jazz fusion and may make more occurrences in the future as jazz slowly makes its comeback in modern culture.
The song can be listened to below:
Cooper • May 15, 2024 at 11:21 am
Great article Cooper!!! I love Chick Corea!
Maya Tedrake • May 15, 2024 at 11:20 am
I think this song is VERY interesting, and I thank you Cooper Horn for the information!