Continuing our look at the generation of jazz artists that came after Miles Davis, John Coltrane, etc. we’ve got (by request, if I recall correctly)…
Return to Forever
Return to Forever was a jazz fusion band of the 1970’s, with varying composition but consistently with Chick Corea on keyboards and Stanley Clarke on bass. The initial band, in 1971-2, played Latin-tinged jazz with Flora Purim’s vocals, and recorded a self-titled album. Several of the original members were from Stan Getz’s band (hence the Latin influence; Getz was famous as a Bossa Nova pioneer in the US), and first performed at the Village Vanguard in New York in November 1971. The band toured Japan and recorded a second album, Light as a Feather, in London.
By 1973 the band had became a quartet playing rock-influenced jazz, a composition that was maintained – with changes in guitarists and drummers from time to time – through 1976, a period of almost constant touring and studio recording. The band won a 1975 Grammy award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group, for the album No Mystery. This was followed by Romantic Warrior, a concept album on medieval themes. Released in March 1976, it became the band’s third consecutive Top 40 hit and went on to become its biggest seller, eventually earning a gold record. But with its completion, Corea again changed stylistic direction and disbanded the lineup. In 1976 the band added a horn section and Corea’s wife, Gayle Moran, on vocals, but only recorded one album, Musicmagic, before splitting up. The core quartet of Corea, Clarke, Al DiMeola on guitar and Lenny White on drums reunited on stage in 1983, but the only recorded work from this group is the track “Compadres” on Corea’s Touchstone album.
Like Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever was a group formed by an alumnus of Miles Davis’ late-’60s bands with the intention of further exploring the possibilities of the jazz-rock hybrid (jazz fusion) style Davis pioneered on albums like Bitches Brew. At the time, this was seen as not only a creative new direction for jazz, but also as a way of attracting the kinds of large audiences enjoyed by rock musicians.
As noted by William Ruhlmann: “In its time, [Return to Forever] rose and fell according to the popular and critical response to jazz fusion in general, gaining accolades and healthy sales early on, but suffering from the backlash that all progressive jazz endured after the 1970s, when musical trends turned conservative and the remnants of jazz-rock mutated into smooth contemporary jazz. Also, it has fallen between stools in terms of music criticism, with hidebound jazz critics dismissing it as too much like rock music, while rock critics think of it as a jazz group. As such, there is a tendency to undervalue the band’s real musical accomplishments, which however, remain available to be heard on the records.”
Band Members
Note – For most of the members of these bands, the Return to Forever period represents only a short period in their overall careers. For instance, the Chick Corea website lists albums from 1966 through 2006, so if you’re interested in any of these artists, realize there’s lots more to explore; this is just a point of entry.
1972: Chick Corea (keyboards), Flora Purim (vocals), Joe Farrell (saxophone), Stanley Clarke (bass) and Airto Moreira (percussion)
1973-76: Chick Corea (keyboards), Bill Connors, then Earl Klugh, then Al DiMeola (guitar), Stanley Clarke (bass) Steve Gadd, then Lenny White (drums), and Mingo Lewis (percussion)
- Chick Corea (keyboards), Gayle Moran (vocals, keyboard), Joe Farrell (saxophone), John Thomas, James Tinsley (trumpet) Jim Pugh, Harold Garrett, Ron Moss (trombone), Stanley Clarke (bass) and Gerry Brown (drums)
- Chick Corea (keyboards), Al DiMeola (guitar), Stanley Clarke (bass) Lenny White (drums)
Discography (with band members as noted above)
Studio albums
- Return to Forever (1972, ECM) (Corea/Clarke/Purim/Farrell/Moreira)
- Light as a Feather (1972, Polydor) (Corea/Clarke/Purim/Farrell/Moreira)
- Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973, Polydor) (Corea/Clarke/Connors/White)
- Where Have I Known You Before (1974, Polydor) (Corea/Clarke/DiMeola/White)
- No Mystery (1975, Polydor) (Corea/Clarke/DiMeola/White)
- Romantic Warrior (1976, Columbia) (Corea/Clarke/DiMeola/White)
- Musicmagic (1977, Columbia) (Corea/Clarke/Moran/Farrell/Pugh/Thomas/Tinsley/Garrett/Brown)
Live release
– RTF Live (1977) (Corea/Clarke/Moran/Farrell/Pugh/Thomas/Tinsley/Garrett/Moss/Brown)
Collections
- Best of Return to Forever (1980)
- Return To The Seventh Galaxy: The Anthology (1996, covers years 1973-1975)
- This Is Jazz, Vol. 12 (1996, covers only last two albums)
Some thoughts about jazz:
“…the essence of this music, this ‘way of making music’, is not simply protest. Its essence is something far more elemental: an elan vital, a forceful vitality, an explosive creative energy as breathtaking as that of any true art, that may be felt even in the saddest of blues. Its effect is cathartic… But of course, when the lives of individuals and communities are controlled by powers that themselves remain uncontrolled–slavers, czars, fuhrers, first secretaries, marshals, generals and generalissimos, ideologists of dictatorships at either end of the spectrum–then creative energy becomes a protest… That’s the way it is…Totalitarian ideologists don’t like real life (other people’s) because it cannot be totally controlled; they loathe art, the product of a yearning for life, because that, too, evades control–if controlled and legislated, it perishes. But before it perishes–or when it finds refuge in some kind of samizdat underground–art, willy-nilly, becomes protest. Popular art, like jazz, becomes mass protest.”
~ Josef Skvorecky, “Red Music” (from the introduction to his novella, The Bass Saxophone)
Musicians in the fifties were the very epitome of everything cool. Just the presence of Miles Davis and John Coltrane lowered the earth’s average temperature by 2.4 degrees (in contrast, the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines only lowered the earth’s average temperature by 1.36 degrees, and didn’t swing anywhere near as hard). ~ Genius Guide to Jazz, April 2001
Regarding jam sessions: “Jazz musicians are the only workers I can think of who are willing to put in a full shift for pay and then go somewhere else and continue to work for free.” ~ George Carlin
“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice.” ~ Albert Einstein
“The Jazz Diet will make you thinner, taller, smarter, richer, happier, hipper, leaner, meaner, keener, more attractive to members of every sex, and able to do those newspaper cryptoquote puzzles in one go.”
~ Genius Guide to Jazz, February 2005
“The main thing a musician would like to do is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows of and senses in the universe.” ~ John Coltrane
Conversation starters
Sometimes it seems that artists on the borderlines between genres are seen as pioneers, other times they’re rejected as “neither fish nor fowl.” Any thoughts on why you think that is? Do you know of any cases of groups pushing the limits of genres that deserve greater attention than they’ve gotten and which we should be on the lookout for?
Here’s a couple from my library that I’m particularly fond of. Both European in origin and definitely outside the box for most older jazz fans…read traditionalists, whose ideas I do not share.
The first is a Piano Trio, EST Esbjorn Svensson Trio
Somewhere Else Before 2001 Sony
Picked this one up on a whim in the cheap bin based on a review I’d read. Something to the effect of…not what jazz was, but a vision of what jazz can be…the future of jazz. It’s a compilation of cuts from 3 of their previous albums, only available in Europe. There are apparently several more now available, perhaps as many as eight or nine.They toured the states in 02-03 playing smaller, hip kind of venues, and to my knowledge haven’t been back. They are very popular on the continent but haven’t been successful here, a great mystery to me.
Their music is melodic and edgy and blends a lot of styles from jazz, rock, grunge, techno and metal. I hear a lot of Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and chick Corea influences, not a bad bunch to emulate. This album will really surprise you, there’s a lot of there there. Big, creative sound from a trio and not afraid to blend in studio effects…much as Wallace Rooney has done in his last several albums.
Highly recommended. I see it’s avail. on Amazon for $10.98…worth it!
This is getting too long for I’ll save St. Germaine for next time.
Later
Peace
Oops…shoulda read the whole Amazon thingy,..used $2.95…Hell, use it for a coaster if you don’t like it…:{)
Peace
I’ve been really impressed with these guys too. I mentioned them quite a while back – I’ll see if I can find the link tomorrow & post it.
Tell us about St. Germaine if you get a chance! 🙂
Thanks Again KP!
I found myself wondering just what was missing from my usual Friday night routine, and I realized that it was your(our) Jazz Jam!
Chick Corea has been a long-time fave of mine when it comes to keyboards. He is one helluva musician and I recommend everything on your list. I have most of his records/cds.
As for the ECM label in the 70’s, they were very hot. Lots of great ‘mining’ potential there for future jams. 🙂
My introduction to some of the more genre-bending jazzers was via an old ECM sampler album (Music for 58 Musicians). That album introduced me to cats such as Codona, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Terje Rypdal, and minimalist composer Steve Reich). I was maybe 14 or 15 at the time my parents dumped that album on me (it was to “weird” for them), and didn’t know at the time just how much the various tunes on that one album would affect me years later.
For a few years in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I bought lots of albums of a range of artists recording on ECM. I never got that compliation you speak of, but I’ll bet it was a real ear-opener, for sure.
I’m a Steve Reich fan from way back, also. Ever heard “Tehillim”? I understand that there is a newer version out now than the one I have. I think I’ll ask for a copy of the new cd for my next birthday.
That’s one of the ones I don’t have yet. Music for 18 Musicians is my fave. The Reich Remixed album that came out a few years ago was also pretty cool.
Herbie Hancock periodically releases these recordings that defy easy categorization (which as far as I’m concerned is a good thing). I suspect that many folks would recognize him as the cat who recorded Rockit that appeared on Future Shock (1983). How does one characterize tunes that feature djs scratchin’ and Herbie surrounded by a plethora of electronic gizmos? Jazz for breakdancing? Those digging that album would also find a lot to like in Sound System (1984), which also adds some African musical elements into the mix (the tune Junku in particular is gorgeous).
Hancock also explores the boundaries of jazz and hip-hop on Dis is Da Drum, and a few years ago put out this stunning album (Future 2 Future) that is as much drum n bass as it is jazzy.
My favorite Hancock genre-bending recordings were done in collaboration with Foday Musa Suso: Village Life (1985), and Jazz Africa (c 1986). The first album is a studio album featuring Hancock on his keyboards and Suso on kora and voice, creating this wonderfully peaceful set that isn’t quite jazz and isn’t quite “world music”. Needless to say, it must have been a nightmare for marketing folks, and that album seemed to fade away into the ether. The second album is from a live gig a year or so later, where they improvise on the themes from the prior recording session, with a little help from a full band – giving the music a much funkier, danceable feel. If you can find either album, treasure it.