Corea to Fight Foo at Grammy Ceremony

You’d think that if any jazz pianist was going to play with the rock band Foo Fighters, it’d be the Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson, what with the Bad Plus doing that slammin’ cover of Nirvana’s “Smell Like Teen Spirit” and all. (Note to the rock-and-roll challenged: Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl used to play in Nirvana.) But it’s Chick Corea (pictured) who’ll sit in on keys with the Foo Fighters on February 8, during the Grammy Awards telecast on CBS.

The song the Foo Fighters and Chick will play together is a surprise, but we do know it’ll be a Foo Fighters tune and expect something off the Foo’s latest album, One by One. Corea will play an actual acoustic piano for the gig, not any of that electronic stuff he sometimes uses, like the strap-on MIDI keyboard.

Corea is in the running for three Grammy honors this year. His Rendezvous In New York (Concord), is nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual Or Group. The album track “Matrix” is up for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo and “Armando’s Rhumba,” another Rendezvous cut (which features Bobby McFerrin), could win for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists.

Grohl and his fellow Fighters of Foo are up for Best Rock Album (for One By One) and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals (for the song “Times Like These”).

The Grammy Awards ceremony will be televised on Feb. 8, 2004 at 8 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific time) on CBS. More info on Grammy nominations is available by clicking here.

Originally Published January 30, 2004