Return to Forever
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
Return to Forever | |
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Background information | |
Origin | New York City, United States |
Genres | |
Years active | 1972–1977, 1983, 2008, 2010–2021 |
Labels | ECM, Columbia, Polydor |
Past members | Chick Corea Stanley Clarke Joe Farrell Airto Moreira Flora Purim Lenny White Bill Connors Steve Gadd Mingo Lewis Earl Klugh Al Di Meola Gerry Brown Harold Garrett Gayle Moran James E. Pugh John Thomas James Tinsley Ron Moss Frank Gambale Jean-Luc Ponty |
Website | return2forever |
Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972.[2] The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhunters, and Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever is often cited as one of the core groups of the jazz-fusion movement of the 1970s. Several musicians, including Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola, came to prominence through their performances on Return to Forever albums.
After playing on Miles Davis's jazz-fusion albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970), Corea formed an avant-garde jazz band called Circle with Dave Holland, Anthony Braxton and Barry Altschul. In 1972, after converting to Scientology, Corea decided he wanted to communicate better with his audience. This meant performing a more accessible style of music than avant-garde jazz.
Return to Forever first disbanded in 1977 after five years and seven studio albums. The band never released another studio album, but occasionally reunited for live performances until Corea's death in 2021.
History
First group (1972–1973)
The first edition of Return to Forever performed primarily
Their first album, titled simply
Jazz rock era (1973–1976)
After the second album, Farrell, Purim and Moreira left the group to form their own bands, and guitarist Bill Connors, drummer Steve Gadd and percussionist Mingo Lewis were added. However, Gadd was unwilling to tour with the band and risk his job as an in-demand session drummer. Lenny White (who had played with Corea in Miles Davis's band) replaced Gadd and Lewis on drums and percussion, and the group's third album, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973), was then re-recorded (the first recording, featuring Gadd on drums, was never released and has since disappeared).[2]
The nature of the group's music had by now completely changed into jazz-rock, and had evolved into a similar vein to that which the
In the September 1988 DownBeat magazine interview with Chick Corea by Josef Woodward, Josef says (page 19), "There is this general view ... that ... Miles [Davis] crystallized electric jazz fusion and that he sent his emissaries out." Chick responds, "Nah, that's Disneyland. Miles is definitely a leader ... But there were other things that occurred that I thought were equally as important. What John McLaughlin did with the electric guitar set the world on its ear. No one ever heard an electric guitar played like that before, and it certainly inspired me. ... John's band, more than my experience with Miles, led me to want to turn the volume up and write music that was more dramatic and made your hair move."[3]
While their second jazz rock album, Where Have I Known You Before (1974) was similar in style to its immediate predecessor, Corea now played synthesizers in addition to electric keyboards (including piano), and Clarke's playing had evolved considerably- now using flange and fuzz-tone effects, and with his signature style beginning to emerge. After Bill Connors left the band to concentrate on his solo career, the group also hired new guitarists. Although Earl Klugh played guitar for some of the group's live performances, he was soon replaced by the then 19-year-old guitar prodigy Al Di Meola, who had also played on the album recording sessions.
Their following album,
The final album by this longest-lasting "classic" lineup of the group, which had by this time left Polydor for
After the release of Romantic Warrior and Return to Forever's subsequent tour in support (as well as having in addition signed a multimillion-dollar contract with CBS), Corea shocked Clarke by deciding to change the lineup of the group and to not include either White or Di Meola.[4]
Final album (1977)
The final incarnation of Return to Forever featured Corea, Clarke and Joe Farrell as well as a four-piece horn section and Corea's wife Gayle Moran on vocals, but recorded only one studio album, Musicmagic (1977).
In 1978, after issuing a live album of the tour titled Return to Forever Live: The Complete Concert[2] (a four-LP set, also released in edited form as a single LP and later as a double CD), Chick Corea officially disbanded the group.[5]
Reunions
In 1982, the Corea/Clarke/White/Di Meola lineup reunited to record a ten-minute track, "Compadres", which was issued on Corea's 1982 album Touchstone. Also, they played at The Wolf & Rissmiller's Country Club, Reseda, California, with Joe Henderson on April 7, 1982.
In 1983, the same Return to Forever lineup played a short reunion tour of the U.S. and Japan, and the live recording in Japan was released in 2021. The repertoire for the tour included some new material by Corea, including one piece titled "Overture" that was later recorded by the Chick Corea Elektric Band for the live various artists double album GRP Super Live in Concert (1992),[6] and another titled "The Phantom" that Di Meola later recorded on his album Kiss My Axe (1991).
Twenty-six years later, Corea, Clarke, White, and Di Meola reunited a second time for a tour of the United States and Europe that began in the summer of 2008. A boxed set of remixed and digitally remastered tracks from the albums Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery, and Romantic Warrior was released to coincide with the tour.[7]
Corea, Clarke, and White (minus Di Meola) performed an acoustic tour in 2009 and released a live album in 2011 titled Forever. It included guest appearances by Bill Connors, Chaka Khan, and Jean-Luc Ponty.
In February 2011 the group began a world tour in Australia. The lineup for this tour was Corea, Clarke, White, Ponty, and guitarist Frank Gambale of the Chick Corea Elektric Band. Many dates included Dweezil Zappa's Zappa Plays Zappa band as an opening act with Corea occasionally appearing in Zappa's band on keyboards, as well as Jean-Luc Ponty performing some of the songs that he had performed with Frank Zappa.[8]
Corea died of cancer on February 9, 2021.
Discography
Albums
Recording date | Title | Label | Year released | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1972-02-2, -03 | Return to Forever | ECM | 1972 | Credited as Chick Corea's album |
1972-10-08, -15 | Light as a Feather | Polydor | 1973 | |
1973-05-15 | Jazz Workshop Boston, MA, May 15, 1973 | Jazz-A-Nova | 2019 | Live recorded for WBCN radio broadcast program at Jazz Workshop. Previously dealt as bootleg recording. |
1973-08 | Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy | Polydor | 1973 | |
1974-07 – 1974-08 |
Where Have I Known You Before | Polydor | 1974 | |
1974-08-08 | Alive in America | Renaissance | 2022 | Live recorded for radio broadcast from Ebbets Field, a small club in Denver. Previously dealt as bootleg recording. |
1975-01 | No Mystery | Polydor | 1975 | |
1975-06 | Electric Lady Studio, NYC, June 1975 | Hi Hat | 2015 | Live at Electric Lady Studios. Bootleg recording. |
1976-02 | Romantic Warrior | Columbia | 1976 | |
1977-01 – 1977-02 |
Musicmagic | Columbia | 1977 | |
1977-05-20, -21 | Live | Columbia | 1978 | Live at Palladium (New York City) [4LP, 2CD, 3CD] |
1983-04-17 | Live in Japan 1983 | Hi Hat | 2021 | Live at Yomiuriland Open Theatre East. Bootleg recording. |
2008-07-25 | San Sebastian Jazz Festival 2008 | Hi Hat | 2020 | Live at San Sebastian Jazz Festival. Bootleg recording. |
2008-07-18, -31 2008-08-06 |
Returns | Eagle | 2009 | Live at 3 venues (Montreux Jazz Festival, Ruth Eckerd Hall and Bank of America Pavilion) [2CD, DVD-Video] |
2009-09-01, -16, -17, -30, 2009-11-28, 2009-12-12 |
Forever | Eagle | 2011 | Credited as Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. Live at 4 venues (Yoshi's, Monterey Jazz Festival, Blue Note Tokyo and Dimitriou's Jazz Alley. [2CD] |
2011-07-29 | Marciac Festival France 2011 | Hi Hat | 2022 | Live at Jazz in Marciac. [2CD] Bootleg recording. |
2011-07-12, 2011-09-13 |
The Mothership Returns | Eagle | 2012 | Live at 2 venues (Austin and Montreux) [2CD + DVD-Video] |
Compilations
- The Best of Return To Forever (Columbia, 1980)
- Return To Forever (CBS/Sony, 1981) [Cassette]
- Return to the Seventh Galaxy: The Anthology (Verve, 1996) – includes previously unreleased 4 live tracks
- This Is Jazz 12 - Return To Forever (Columbia, 1996)
- Return to Forever: The Anthology (Concord, 2008)
- The Definitive Collection (Verve, 2008)
Personnel
All members
- Chick Corea – Fender Rhodes electric piano, synthesizers (1972–1977, 1983, 2008–2021; died 2021)
- Stanley Clarke – bass (1972–1977, 1983, 2008–2021), vocals (1977)
- Joe Farrell – saxophone (1972–1973, 1977; died 1986)
- Airto Moreira – drums, percussion (1972–1973)
- Flora Purim – vocals (1972–1973)
- Lenny White – drums (1973–1976, 1983, 2008, 2010–2021)
- Bill Connors – guitar (1973–1974, 2009)
- Steve Gadd – drums (1973)
- Mingo Lewis – percussion (1973)
- Earl Klugh – guitar (1974)
- Al Di Meola – guitar (1974–1976, 1983, 2008)
- Gerry Brown – drums (1977)
- Harold Garrett – trombone (1977)
- Gayle Moran – vocals, keyboards (1977)
- James E. Pugh – trombone (1977)
- John Thomas – trumpet (1977)
- James Tinsley – trumpet (1977)
- Ron Moss – trombone (1977)
- Jean-Luc Ponty – violin (2009–2021)
- Frank Gambale – guitar (2010–2021)
Lineups
1972–1973 | 1973 | 1973–1974 | 1974 |
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1974–1977 | 1977 | 1977 | 1977–1983 |
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Disbanded |
1983 | 1983–2008 | 2008 | 2009 |
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Disbanded |
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2010–2021 | |||
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Timeline
References
- ^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "Return to Forever Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
- ^ ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
- ^ "Pages of Fire: Articles: Notes by Jim Sheppard". Users.cs.cf.ac.uk.
- ^ "Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review". Religio.de.
- ^ Jazz Rock - A History, Stuart Nicholson, Schirmer Books, N.Y., 1998, p.375
- ^ "GRP Super Live in Concert - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
- ^ Return to Forever reunites for 2008 trek Archived December 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Return to Forever World Tour to Kick Off in Feb 2011". Voxy.co.nz. November 14, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
External links
- "In Conversation with Chick Corea" by Patrick Spurling at www.jazz.com
- "Return to Forever: Twelve Historic Tracks" by Walter Kolosky at www.jazz.com
- Photographs by Gianluca Scerni from the concert Return to Forever IV live @ Teatro D'Annunzio, Pescara Jazz, Italy 2011
- Return to Forever biography by William Ruhlmann, discography and album reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
- Return to Forever discography, album releases & credits at Discogs
- Return to Forever at IMDb