Died Four Years Ago, Chick Corea Wins 28th Victory At The 2025 Grammy Awards

Jazz player Chick Corea (Instagram @chickcorea)

JAKARTA - The collaboration between Chick Corea (piano) and Béla Fleck (banjo) on the album 'Remembrance' came as winners of the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category at the 2025 Grammy Awards which was held at Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles on Sunday, February 2 local time.

This victory is the fifth time for Chick Corea since his death on February 9, 2021.

Meanwhile, Béla Fleck, who is Corea's partner in the 'Remembrance', came to celebrate the 67th Grammy Awards and performed for the MusiCares Fire Relief charity concert.

In a backstage interview with Recording Academy, Fleck revealed how his music project with Chick Corea was so special to him.

"This is very special to me. Chick Corea is my hero. I first saw him play when I was 17 years old, and I was amazed, I never heard of anything like that," said Fleck, recalling how the duo project with Chick Corea came true.

(Music like Chick Corea) that's what I want to do for the rest of my life. But I play banjo, that's the problem. So, I spent the next 15 years trying to learn the type of music. And finally I became friends with Chick, and performed, and we became duo. Can you imagine like that? Duet with your hero and be friends and partners," he continued.

Furthermore, Fleck stated how this victory made him so proud, but on the other hand also missed the figure of Chick Corea.

"This is our third record, the other two didn't win anything, so it's very important to me. I'm very proud," he said.

"I miss him so much. He's a real friend. You know, more than just a hero, a real person, a good guy, and he treats me well," he added.

For information, Chick Corea was known as one of the pioneers of jazz-rock fusion music with the Return To Forever group in the 1970s.

With the victory of his music project with Béla Fleck, Corea has won 28 Grammys out of 72 nominations for more than five decades of music.

Meanwhile, the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category is not something that gets the attention of many people. But for those who like jazz, this category becomes very essential.

Best Jazz Instrumental Album is a category for jazz maestros. Those who have won in this category include Count Basie, Bill Evans, Ramsey Lewis, Wes Montgomery, Art Blakey, Oscar Peterson, Marijuana Hancock, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and many more.