Making Music Brings Peace to High Voltage Life : Performing: After nearly three decades of critical acclaim, pianist/composer Chick Corea still puts his heart and soul into his music.

“Let’s see if we can find a quiet place in here.”

Chick Corea was trying to locate a spot for a few moments of calm conversation. But since his Mad Hatter Studio on Silver Lake Boulevard in Los Angeles was in a state of warm and affable chaos due to a release party for friends and family for “Inside Out,” a new album by Corea’s Elektric Band, it wasn’t easy.

It was a typical Chick Corea environment. With nearly three decades of Grammy Awards, Down Beat magazine citations, best-selling records and great critical acclaim, the 47-year-old pianist-composer still seems to feel most comfortable in dynamic, high-energy surroundings.

He has just kicked off a tour with his Elektric Band that includes two shows tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and continues through December, with treks to Europe and Japan along the way. Between the tour stops, he’ll squeeze in a few duet programs with Bobby McFerrin, a variety of television appearances, and somehow manage to work on the material for his next album.

Why all the rush? What makes Chick run?

He smiled broadly, his serene demeanor a striking counter to the hyperactive schedule of activities. “It may seem busy, but it’s all focused in one direction--getting out on the road and playing. That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “Everything else is to support that goal.

“The business enterprises, the publishing, the studio--they’re all great. The studio’s done so well that we’re thinking of building a second one. But it’s all really just a kind of support system for playing. Because, when you get right down to it, this is where my heart is right now--getting out on stage with this group and making music.”

In fact, Corea’s life has always been in a kind of musical perpetual motion. The early portions of his resume include a virtual all-star list of associations--from Stan Getz, Willie Bobo and Sarah Vaughan to Miles Davis, Blue Mitchell and Mongo Santamaria. His own groups have included a trio with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes, duets with Herbie Hancock, Gary Burton and Frederich Gulda, a sterling quintet with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Lenny White and Stanley Clarke, and, of course, the innovative fusion band, Return To Forever (RTF).

“The one very big difference in my life from what it was 20 years ago,” said Corea, “is that I now have long term plans. I never used to do that. I used to go from day to day, week to week, tour to tour, gig to gig without thinking about what was coming next.

“Now--maybe because I’m a leader and because of my business obligations--I take a much broader view. I have things I want to accomplish--with the Elektric Band, as a composer, as an artist with other artists. And it takes perseverance along to do them. If I start and stop and start and stop, forget it, I’ll never get there. So maybe that’s why it seems as though I’m always going in three different directions at the same time.”

A sudden interruption flashes through the room in the form of a 6-year-old, eager to find some action. “Hi, Chick,” he shouted as he exited in a rush. Corea laughed again: “Sometimes I feel that’s the same pace I’m moving at.”

Despite his love of energy and movement, Corea has a more introspective side that would love nothing better than to “live a second life as a chamber music composer and write for string quartets, for duets, trios and string orchestras.”

He once had the fascinating, but sadly unfulfilled, idea to write solo concertos for all his favorite players--a violin concerto for Jean-Luc Ponty, a bass concerto for Stanley Clarke, and so on.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to resolve the composing problem,” he said, “to find a balance between the necessity to go out and perform--both from the viewpoint of making a living and from the desire to get up there and communicate--and my love of research and composing.

“For me, composing time is not just a time to write music, but a time to close the doors of my studio, shut the phones off and be with myself on the subject of music. There are so many things I’d like to work on, that it’s a matter of finding a direction and then moving on. Much as I’d love it, I just don’t have time to do that, with all the demands that are involved with keeping the Elektric Band on the road.”

Time constraints to the contrary, however, Corea does manage a substantial amount of compositional activity. “Inside Out,” for example, includes six new works, three of which are extended, multipart compositions.

“Chick has always complained about not having enough time to write,” said Al DiMeola, who has been the featured guitarist in several editions of RTF. “The truth is, that Chick is one of America’s great composers. He can literally sit down and turn out a chart a day. He’s that quick.”

Corea’s success with the Elektric Band, which has dominated much of his creative time for the last five years, has still not quite dimmed the memory of RTF, the influential band whose 1970s and 1980s performances are still very much in the public consciousness.

A brief reunion tour in 1983 generated sell-out audiences and some rave notices, but no new recording. Although Corea has worked with bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White in the interim, the full complement of RTF has not gotten together for nearly a decade.

“We really had a good time with that band,” said Corea, “and I’d love to do another reunion, maybe with a recording. But the old RTF contract is still kind of in limbo, and we’ve all got exclusive contracts as solo artists. So the legal mountain that would need to be climbed to make a new record is staggering. Still, it’s something that really should be overcome. I totally admire those guys and have fond, fond memories of playing together.”

DiMeola agreed: “Getting Return to Forever back together would be a smart thing musically, and a rewarding opportunity businesswise. I’d love to see it happen.”

With so many options generating so much activity, Corea seems about as content as a cutting edge artist can expect to be. “At the risk of sounding silly,” he said, “I don’t remember when I’ve been happier. I know that if you’re a real artist, you’re supposed to say you’re miserable, but I feel richly rewarded right now by having an environment of musicians, family and friends that is really choice.

“Having a group to work with and having goals is just the most wonderful thing there is,” he concluded. “My happiness is that I have a lot of friends, a great wife, a great manager, a great band. Now if I can slow down long enough to enjoy them all, things’ll be just fine.”

Chick Corea & the Elektric Band will appear tonight at 8 and 10:30 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $19.50. Information: (714) 496-4930.