Return to Forever

Return to Forever
Return to Forever
	Return to Forever in Rochester, New York, 1976. Left to right: White, Clarke, Corea, Di Meola
Background information
Origin	New York City, United States
Genres	Jazz fusion, progressive rock
Years active	1972–1977, 1983, 2008, 2010–present
Labels	ECM, Columbia, Polydor
Website	return2forever.com
Members	Chick Corea; Stanley Clarke; Lenny White; Frank Gambale; Jean-Luc Ponty
Past members	Joe Farrell; Airto Moreira; Flora Purim; 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

Return to Forever is an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1971.[1] The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. 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 becoming a member of Scientology, Corea decided he wanted to communicate better with the audience. This meant performing a more accessible style of music than avant-garde jazz.

First group (1972–1973)

The first edition of Return to Forever performed primarily Latin-oriented music.[1] This initial band consisted of singer and percussionist Flora Purim, her husband Airto Moreira (both Brazilians) on drums and percussion, Corea's longtime musical co-worker Joe Farrell on saxophone and flute, and the young Stanley Clarke on bass.[1] Within this first line-up in particular, Clarke played acoustic double bass in addition to electric bass. Corea's Fender Rhodes electric piano formed the basis of this group's sound; he was yet to discover synthesizers, his trademark sound in the group's later years. Clarke and Farrell were given ample solo space themselves. While Purim's vocals lent some commercial appeal to the music, many of their compositions were also instrumental and somewhat experimental in nature. The music was composed by Corea with the exception of the title track of the second album which was written by Stanley Clarke. Lyrics were often written by Corea's friend Neville Potter, and were quite often Scientology-themed. Clarke himself became involved in Scientology through Corea, but eventually left the religion in the early 1980s.

Their first album, titled simply Return to Forever, was recorded for ECM Records in 1972,[1] and was initially released only in Europe. This album featured Corea's now famous compositions "Crystal Silence" and "La Fiesta". Shortly afterwards, Corea, Airto, Clarke and Tony Williams formed the band for Stan Getz's album Captain Marvel (1972), which featured Corea's compositions, including some from the first and second Return to Forever albums. Their second album, Light as a Feather (1973),[1] was released by Polydor and included the song "Spain", which also became quite well known.

Jazz rock era (1973–1976)

L to R: Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, Chick Corea (drummer Lenny White not visible). Return to Forever performing in 1974 at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York.

After the second album, Farrell, Purim and Moreira left the group to form their own band, 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).[1]

The nature of the group's music had by now completely changed into jazz-rock, and had evolved into a similar vein as to that the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, and some progressive rock bands were also performing at the time. Their music was still relatively melodic, relying on strong themes, but the jazz element was by this time almost entirely absent,[1] replaced by a more direct, rock oriented approach. Over-driven, distorted guitar had also become prominent in the band's new sound, and Clarke had by then switched almost completely to electric bass guitar. A replacement on vocals was not hired, and all the songs were now instrumentals. This change did not lead to a decrease in the band's commercial fortunes however, Return to Forever's jazz rock albums instead found their way onto US pop album charts.

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."[2]

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, No Mystery (1975), was recorded with the same line-up as Where Have I Known You Before, but the style of music had become more varied. The first side of the record consisted primarily of jazz-funk, while the second side featured Corea's acoustic title track and a long composition with a strong Spanish influence. On this and the following album, each member of the group composed at least one of the tracks. No Mystery went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group.

The final album by this longest-lasting "classic" lineup of the group, which had by this time left Polydor for Columbia Records, was Romantic Warrior (1976), the best selling of all Return to Forever's efforts,[1] eventually reaching gold disc status. Romantic Warrior continued their experiments in the realms of jazz-rock and related musical genres, and was lauded by critics for both the technically demanding style of its compositions as well as for its accomplished musicianship.

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.[3]

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[1] (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.[4]

Reunions

In 1982, the Corea/Clarke/White/Di Meola lineup reunited to record an eleven-minute track, "Compadres", which was issued on Corea's 1982 album Touchstone. In 1983, the same Return to Forever lineup played a short reunion tour of the U.S. and Japan, but did not record a new album. 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),[5] 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.[6]

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 on 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.[7]

Discography

Personnel

Chick Corea – keyboards (1972–1977, 1983, 2008, 2010–present)
Jean-Luc Ponty – violin (2010–present)
Frank Gambale – guitar (2010–present)
Stanley Clarke – bass (1972–1977, 1983, 2008, 2010–present), vocals (1977)
Lenny White – drums (1973–1976, 1983, 2008, 2010–present)

Former members

Joe Farrell – saxophone (1972–1973, 1977; died 1986)
Airto Moreira – percussion (1972–1973)
Flora Purim – vocals (1972–1973)
Bill Connors – guitar (1973–1974)
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)

Lineups

1972–1973	1973	1973-1974	1974
Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – double bass Joe Farrell – saxophone Airto Moreira – percussion Flora Purim – vocals	Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Bill Connors – guitar Steve Gadd – drums Mingo Lewis – percussion	Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Bill Connors – guitar Lenny White – drums	Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Lenny White – drums Earl Klugh – guitar
1974–1977	1977	1977	1977–1983
Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Lenny White – drums Al Di Meola – guitar	Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Gerry Brown – drums Joe Farrell – saxophone Harold Garrett – trombone Gayle Moran – vocals, keyboards James E. Pugh – trombone John Thomas – trumpet James Tinsley – trumpet	Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Gerry Brown – drums Joe Farrell – saxophone Harold Garrett – trombone Gayle Moran – vocals, keyboards James E. Pugh – trombone John Thomas – trumpet James Tinsley – trumpet Ron Moss – trombone	Disbanded
1983	1983–2008	2008	2008-2010
Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Al Di Meola – guitar Lenny White – drums	Disbanded	Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Al Di Meola – guitar Lenny White – drums	Disbanded
2010–present
Chick Corea – keyboards Stanley Clarke – bass Lenny White – drums Frank Gambale – guitar Jean-Luc Ponty – violin

Timeline

References

Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 1007/8. 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

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[Larkin-1] Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 1007/8. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.

[2] "Pages of Fire: Articles: Notes by Jim Sheppard". Users.cs.cf.ac.uk.

[religio.de-3] "Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review". Religio.de.

[4] Jazz Rock - A History, Stuart Nicholson, Schirmer Books, N.Y., 1998, p.375

[5] "GRP Super Live in Concert - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.

[6] Return to Forever reunites for 2008 trek Archived December 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

[7] "Return to Forever World Tour to Kick Off in Feb 2011". Voxy.co.nz. November 14, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2011.