It’s safe to say that jazz wouldn’t be where it is today without keyboardist, composer and band leader Chick Corea.

Corea has been at the forefront of nearly every jazz development over the past 40 years, from acoustic to electronic, from straight-ahead to fusion and Latin, from avant-garde to crossover classical.

With 22 Grammys and three Latin Grammys, he’s busted down barriers with a virtuosic technique and an inerrant ear for what sounds good, interesting and compelling all at the same time. No wonder the New York Times called his career “among the most kaleidoscopic in jazz.”

Corea opens a four-night residency at Blue Note Hawaii on Wednesday with accomplished bassist Eddie Gomez, a longtime collaborator, and celebrated drummer Brian Blade.

The trio format recalls his original, transformative second album, 1968’s “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs,” with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes, whose single of the same name earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, reserved for only the most significant recordings of the genre.

But the performances are certain to be far more than that. Corea, ever restless in mind and body, will be stopping over here on his way back from China, where he was one of the first performers to play the brand-new Blue Note Beijing.

He is also in the midst of preparing for his 75th birthday celebration, scheduled to take place over eight weeks at the Blue Note in New York starting in October. He’ll devote one week to Miles Davis’ groundbreaking music, revisiting his early days performing with Davis.

Here in Hawaii, whatever he plays, it’s bound to be elegant, a product of a well-grounded musical instruction that started in the Boston suburb of Chelsea in his childhood. There, he grew up in a household led by his father Armando, a Dixieland jazz musician, and also took lessons from classical pianist Salvatore Sullo, who many credit for Corea’s refined technique and understanding of composition.

Corea studied at music schools for just a short time before moving on to his own career. By the early 1960s, his tunes were already gaining the notice of top jazz artists of the day. He worked with Cab Calloway and recorded with Mongo Santamaria, Stan Getz and Herbie Mann. Corea joined Davis in the late ’60s, playing with Herbie Hancock in the band for a while before replacing Hancock at the keyboards. With Davis’ explorations into the avant garde, Corea turned to the electric keyboard, appearing on Davis recordings such as “In a Silent Way,” “Bitches Brew” and “Live at the Fillmore East.”

In the early ’70s, Corea formed Return to Forever, with Joe Farrell on flute and sax; bassist Stanley Clarke, who would remain with Corea through the band’s many iterations; and Brazilian couple Flora Purim on vocals and Airto Moreira on drums putting the stress on the Corea’s Latin roots. They were the group that recorded Corea’s composition “Spain,” from the 1973 album “Light as a Feather.” “Spain,” a 10-minute-long jam that begins with a flourish reminiscent of trumpeters announcing a bullfight and quickly changes into a melody that is both dreamy and danceable, would become Corea’s most famous single work.

Corea has kept going ever since, recording six albums over the past 40 years with vibraphonist Gary Burton and establishing both electric and acoustic bands, named appropriately Elektrik and Akoustik. He’s recorded standards and his own works solo, channeled Mozart’s improvisation skills to record with Bobby McFerrin and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and broken new ground with crossover banjo master Bela Fleck in two acclaimed albums — “Enchantment” in 2007 and “About Two” last year.

Last year, Corea was still winning major awards, including a Grammy for “Trilogy,” with Blade and Christian McBride, as well as Keyboard Player of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association and Album and Jazz Artist of the Year from Downbeat Magazine.