Jazzman Davis’ Legacy Remains Alive After His Departure : * Music: Keyboardist Chick Corea, who plays tonight, praises the ‘superlative leader’ and the space he gave his musicians.

“He inspired musicians to think for themselves. You listen to his music and it’s the hippest, always. Sometimes musicians become dated--not him.”

Chick Corea, the celebrated keyboardist and composer, was reminiscing earlier this week about Miles Davis, with whom he played in the late ‘60s.

“It’s impossible not to think about him,” Corea said in an interview the day after the great trumpeter and jazzmen died at age 65 in a Santa Monica hospital. “The legacy is there, has been there. Now you have come to terms with the departure. We’re not going to have him around, physically. That’s sadness.”

Corea, 50, who leads his Elektric Band tonight at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, said that Davis was a superlative leader.

“One of his greatest attributes was that he allowed his players a lot of space, and let creation happen in that space,” said Corea, his Boston accent betraying his birthplace in nearby Chelsea, Mass.

“(Bassist) Dave Holland and (drummer) Jack DeJohnette and I loved to get ‘out there,’ play abstract rhythms, wig out sometimes, and Miles let us. While we were playing, he wouldn’t go away but would watch and observe what we were doing.

“Sometimes he’d walk up to me and put his mouth next to my ear and whisper, ‘Chick, you’re nuts.’ But he never fired us so he couldn’t have hated it all that badly,” Corea said, laughing.

It was with Davis that Corea first played the electric keyboards--which he used on such classic recordings as “Bitches Brew” and “In a Silent Way”--that make up the instrumental arsenal he’ll be working with tonight. But would Corea have tackled plugged-in devices had he not worked with Davis?

“It would have been inevitable,” said Corea, “because there were, and still are, two streams going on with me. One was the great improvisational feeling which resulted from the more acoustic relationship with Dave and Jack, and the other stream was more intense, rock-beat based.”

“I like rock ‘n’ roll,” said Corea, whose new Elektric Band album is titled “Beneath the Mask.” “It’s like ultra peak-out intensity, where all the normal emotions of life are magnified and you might let your body make wild motions or you might dance or scream.”

The keyboardist--who remains a devoted follower of L. Ron Hubbard’s philosophy, Scientology--said that in the past, he tried to utilize both the acoustic piano and electronic keyboards with his Elektric Band, but no longer.

“In the studio we had had some success, but live performances were a bear,” Corea explained. “The volume was too loud for the acoustic piano to breathe properly.”

These days, Corea plays the acoustic instrument in his Akoustic Band, with bassist John Patitucci and drummer Dave Weckl--both of whom also are members of the Elektric Band--and other projects, such as his ongoing duets with vibist Gary Burton, or a duo album he’s making with singer Bobby McFerrin.

And in his electric context, where Corea employs numerous state-of-the-art synthesizers, he’s returned to the keyboard he first played with Davis--the 88-key Fender Rhodes electric piano.

“I love the sound of it; it’s so rich and nice and warm,” he said. “It has warm textures. . . . And I like something with a recognizable action that’s touch sensitive”--all of which are attributes of the Rhodes.

The Rhodes will be linked to Corea’s other keyboards via MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), which enables him to play from the Rhodes keyboard and yet utilize the sonic variety of his bank of synthesizers.

Tonight’s performance kicks off a 65-concert tour for Corea and company--the group features Patitucci, Weckl, guitarist Frank Gambale and saxophonist Eric Marienthal. And while many bands are reporting small crowds and reduced profits due to the current economic downturn, the leader is ready for what may come.

“You hear that everything is falling apart business-wise, but our antidote is to ignore the chaos and confusion and go out and find the audience and play,” Corea said.

One way that the musician and his manager attempt to ensure crowds is to work with promoters, keeping Corea’s price within reason and ticket prices as well.

To Corea, the audience is essential.

“It’s certainly fun to play with great musicians,” he said, “but it really adds something good to play for people, lighten them up, put some brightness in their lives. That’s a great feeling.”

One of the most productive of jazz pianists and composers, Corea began classical piano studies at age four. He discovered jazz by listening to records his father played, and by age 19, was a member of Latin bands led by Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo. He recorded and performed with Stan Getz and Blue Mitchell, then later joined Davis.

In 1971, he and Anthony Braxton formed the avant-garde quartet Circle. Subsequently Corea established Return to Forever, a band that in several incarnations through the ‘70s and early ‘80s explored jazz, rock, Latin, Brazilian and other musics. Corea, who has won several Grammy awards, formed his Elektric Band in 1986, and his Akoustic trio a year later.

Naturally, Corea’s considers his tenure with Davis as one of the high points of his career. “There are so many pleasurable memories,” he said. “The most recent was last summer, there was a Miles tribute in Paris. I was there, so was Herbie (Hancock), Wayne (Shorter), Joe Zawinul, Dave Holland, Jackie McLean, John Scofield and others. We did a video for a Japanese company. I met Miles in the afternoon, we had a hug, he looked great, smiling and everything.

“Then later, we played (Shorter’s blues) ‘Footprints,’ with Wayne and drummer Al Foster. It was killing. It was incredible to be with the man again. He played sparsely, but it was unbelievable.”

* The Chick Corea Elektric Band plays tonight at 8 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $12 to $34. Information: (714) 556-2787.