Chick's recording of To the Stars touches off a revival of one of Hubbard's most loved stories. Corea, an IAS Medal Winner, was inspired to write this music by one of his favorite works of Hubbard fiction.
Jazzonline describes it as: "Restless music pacesetter and multi-Grammy® Award-winner, Chick Corea now returns with his genre-bending, all-star Elektric Band, featuring Frank Gambale, Eric Marienthal, John Patitucci, Dave Weckl and guest appearances by Steve Wilson, Pernell Saturnino and Gayle Moran Corea. Featuring all-new Corea compositions inspired by his favorite science fiction novel, To The Stars, Chick and company’s rocket-fueled performances are unquestionably out of this world. Reuniting his ground-breaking Elektric Band just in time to celebrate the group’s 20th anniversary, Corea is once again heard blazing trails through a new frontier of electrifying, creative music."
This article on the Blue Note web site quotes Chick on how he was inspired to write this work:
"As for the inspiration of To The Stars…
"I’ve been a fan of L. Ron Hubbard’s fiction writing since the early 70’s and To The Stars was always one of my favorite stories," says Chick. "When I started reading it again recently I came across a part near the beginning that describes the Captain of the spaceship playing a hypnotic melody on the piano in a dive of a bar in what is called ‘New Chicago.‘ And Hubbard describes the Captain, he describes the bar, he describes the music. And I thought to myself, ‘I hear that music.’"
Once at the keyboard, Chick began to play the music that he heard. That initial spark ignited into a composition, a portrait of one of the book’s characters entitled, Captain Jocelyn, The Pianist. From there, Chick got into another of the book’s characters, then another, and another, then into some of the novel’s intergalactic locations. By the time Chick completed his journey, he had composed nine new tunes, and To The Stars was launched.
Hubbard’s novel, a seminal work of science fiction, revolves around a scientific equation: 'AS MASS APPROACHES INFINITY, TIME APPROACHES ZERO.' As the speed of the ship, the 'Hound of Heaven,' approaches the speed of light, it also approaches zero time. So when the ship’s crew returns home after having spent a few months in space, hundreds of years have passed on Earth. They find their families, their friends, even their countries are things of the past. Theirs becomes known as the 'long passage.'"
The full article can be read here
There is a terrific magazine online called L. Ron Hubbard Literary Correspondence which gives a great deal of insight into Mr. Hubbard.
I always enjoy reading about other aspects of L. Ron Hubbard's life. As a Scientologist I have read so many of his books and essays primarily relating to Scientology applied religious philosophy, but I am a great fan of his fiction as well.
There are a lot of Mr. Hubbard's fiction titles available as e-books, and here is a link for more information about Hubbard literary works.
