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Return to Forever

Miles Davis' electric bands in the late ‘60s (featured on such classic albums as In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew) served as the incubator for several pioneering jazz fusion bands, including Tony Williams’ Lifetime, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter’s Weather Report and Chick Corea’s legendary Return to Forever, whose lifespan stretched from 1972 to 1977 with three different versions of the band. After a touring absence of more than 25 years, the potent jazz-rock flagship quartet edition of Return to Forever returns in 2008. This highly anticipated reunion will see the group’s classic lineup"Corea on keyboards, Al Di Meola on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass and Lenny White on drums"embark on an expansive summer tour with dates in Europe and the United States. A special Return to Forever anthology featuring remixed and remastered tracks from the classic albums Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery and Romantic Warrior will also be released to coincide with the tour. And a concert DVD could well be released, featuring the band revisiting the material from their years together. After Corea left Miles’ employ, he helped found the avant-garde acoustic quartet Circle with saxophonist Anthony Braxton, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul. The band worked from 1970-’71, but Corea sought a new, less-esoteric direction where he could express his music to larger audiences"in a band committed to communicating the purity of sound, the challenge of improvising on complex compositions and the exploration of melding the jazz tradition with rock music. The time was ripe for what followed. Return to Forever launched in 1972 with its self-titled debut featuring a quintet that Corea assembled, comprising Joe Farrell on flute and saxophone, Airto Moreira on drums and percussion, Flora Purim on vocals, and Stanley Clarke on bass"the only RTF member who served in all three editions of the band. With a Brazilian tinge imbued in the fusion, the first album featured such noteworthy tracks as “Sometime Ago,” “Crystal Silence” and “La Fiesta.” Later that year, the same RTF lineup delivered its follow-up, Light As a Feather, renowned as one of the band’s best recordings. Tunes included such Corea classics as “Spain,” “500 Miles High” and “Captain Marvel.” In 1973, when Airto and Flora left RTF to start their own band and Farrell also took his leave, Corea enlisted a new lineup to explore a harder-edged rock-jazz fusion.

The '70s with Miles Davis, Billy Cobham, Jean-Luc Ponty and Weather report

by Len Davis
June 28, 2024

A visit to the '70s honouring those amazing musicians who paved the way. Miles Davis Live at Filmore East, Return To Forever, Billy Cobham, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Stanley Clarke. Jean-Luc Ponty, Weather Report and Michel Colombier.Playlist Miles Davis “Spanish Key" from Live At Filmore (Sony Legacy) 00:00 Return To Forever “Theme To The Mothership" from Hymn Of The 7th Galaxy (Polydor) 08:14/li> Billy Cobham “Stratus" from Spectrum (Atlantic) 16:48 Mahavishnu Orchestra “The Dance Of Maya" from The Inner Mounting Flame ...

Radio & Podcasts

1974: King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham and Miles Davis

by Len Davis
January 19, 2024

1974, fifty years ago with King Crimson, Isotope, Larry Coryell, Miles Davis, Billy Cobham, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Return To Forever, Joe Farrell, Jerry Goodman with Jan Hammer, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jaco Pastorius with Pat Metheny, Bruce Ditmas and Paul Bley. Playlist King Crimson “Red" from Red (Island Records) 00:00 Isotope “Rangoon Creeper" from Illusion (Gull) 06:47 Larry Coryell “Bird Fingers" from Eleventh House with Larry Coryell (Vanguard) 13:34 Miles Davis “Rated X" from Get Up with ...

Radio & Podcasts

Miles Davis, Return To Forever, Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer

by Len Davis
December 23, 2022

Today's show includes music from Miles Davis, Return To Forever, Jan Hammer, and Jeff Beck. Also, new and recent music from Antonio Quijano, Fractal Sextet with Stephan Thelen.PlaylistMiles Davis “Fat Time" from The Man With The Horn (CB) 00:00Return To Forever “Sorceress" from Romantic Warrior (CBS) 08:07Jeff Beck “You Never Know" from There And Beck (Epic) 16:05Jan Hammer “Bambu Forest" from Oh Yeah (Nemperorl) 24:15Antonio Quijano “Headlong" from Black Crow Move To NYC (Anderson Shelta) 32:11Antonio Quijano “Funk ...

Radio & Podcasts

John McLaughlin, Return To Forever, John Patittuci and Larry Coryell

by Len Davis
August 20, 2021

We open todays program with live music from Abstract Logix's New Universe Music Festival, Return to Forever Live, Third Rail Live Across Europe . Favourites with John Patitucci, Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey and Lenny White and from the Netherlands, Lale Larson, and Sebastiaan Cornelissen with Gary Willis. Playlist John McLaughlin “Recovery" from New Universe Music Festival (Abstract Logix) 00:00 John McLaughlin"Mother Tongues" from New Universe Music Festival (Abstract Logix) 09:05 Third Rail"Highway 86" from Live Across Europe (Aerohead) ...

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Interview

Return to Forever: Back, Bold and Badass

by R.J. DeLuke
February 13, 2021

This article was first published at All About Jazz in June 2008. The word has long been out and the 2008 reunion tour of Return to Forever, one of the standard bearers of the jazz-rock fusion movement of the 1970s, is well on its way. Intricate, emotive and—yes—loud music that hasn't really been heard from the band in some 32 years, is being played and enjoyed live once again. With great vigor, to say the least. The tour ...

Extended Analysis

The Mothership Returns

by John Kelman
June 19, 2012

When keyboardist Chick Corea announced--following a successful world tour of his reunited 1970s-era fusion juggernaut Return to Forever, which, featuring guitarist Al Di Meola, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White, included a high octane 2008 performance that was one of the best-attended in the Ottawa International Jazz Festival's three-decade history--that he'd be reuniting the earlier incarnation of the group responsible for Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (Polydor, 1973), there was plenty of buzz. He ultimately became the ...

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Film Review

Return To Forever: Returns - Live at Montreux 2008

by John Kelman
June 8, 2009

Return to Forever Returns: Live at Montreux 2008 Eagle Eye Media 2009 With one of the most successful tours of 2008 behind it--and the two-CD set Returns (Eagle Records, 2009) released to document the event--the reunion of fusion powerhouse Return to Forever-- keyboardist Chick Corea, guitarist Al Di Meola, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White--appeared to be over. No surprise, however, that the group's triumphant performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was also recorded, ...

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Performance / Tour

Return to Forever Performing at Bank of America Pavilion in Boston on Thursday, August 11

Source: MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
August 10, 2011

Return to Forever, one of the most formidable jazz ensembles of modern times, is performing at the Bank of America Pavilion along Boston's waterfront this Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $45-$80 and can be ordered online. Premium tickets are also available for $133.50. The band includes Boston native Chick Corea on piano, Stanley Clark on bass, Lenny White on drums, Jean Luc Ponty on violin, and Frank Gambale on guitar. Opening act is Zappa Plays Zappa. ...
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Recording

Return to Forever - The Complete Columbia Albums Collection

Source: Sound Insights by Doug Payne
July 14, 2011

After a prodigious session career in the 1960s, several solo albums that toyed with both the traditional and freer forms of jazz and a mercurial period of experimentation with Miles Davis between 1968 and 1972, pianist and composer Chick Corea crystalized the notion of his first “group" endeavor, to be known as Return to Forever. Corea recorded his blueprint for the concept with his tremendous Return to Forever album for ECM Records in February 1972. The album collected the talents ...
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Event

Return To Forever IV Unveils Historic New Lineup For 32-City Tour & A Stop At LA's Greek Theatre

Source: Jay Hughen
June 10, 2011

Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White and Jean-Luc Ponty, Frank Gambale To Tour With Zappa Plays Zappa Return To Forever, whose mind-blowing experimentation in jazz and rock transformed the music world, will debut a historic new lineup this summer with a stop at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on September 20. The tour brings a re-imagined musical dimension to both the wildly influential group and its repertoire. Tickets go on sale Saturday, May 21. Solidifying the tour's once-in-a-lifetime experience, ...
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Performance / Tour

Return to Forever reunite for summer tour

Source: Michael Ricci
May 22, 2011

Return to Forever will reunite this summer with a new lineup for a nationwide tour. The fourth installment of the jazz and rock experimental group will make their way to Massachusetts for a performance at Boston's Bank of America Pavilion on Thursday, August 11. Tickets for the show, which range in price from $30 to $60, will go on sale Saturday at 11 a.m. through Live Nation. Zappa Plays Zappa, Dweevil Zappa's tribute band to his late father Frank, will ...
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Performance / Tour

RTF IV Hymn of the 7th Galaxy Tour : First Stop, Australia

Source: Jazz (Jazzers Jazzing) by Carl L. Hager
March 1, 2011

Earlier this month the newly re-constituted jazz/rock supergroup Return To Forever kicked off its RTF IV Hymn Of The 7th Galaxy world tour with two weeks in the land Down Under. Jean-Luc Ponty's superb violin has been added and Al DiMeola's guitar has been replaced by Frank Gambale's. All five musicians in RTF IV possess famously world-class chops, but getting players who have the technical prowess to do the job has seemingly never been an issue for Chick Corea and ...
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Recording

Return to Forever:Returns

Source: JamBase
August 11, 2009

By: Ron Hart

Back when I was the music editor for this wannabe hipster rag out of NYC, I was told by my editor-in-chief, when pitching the idea of reviewing--if my memory serves me well--a Jaco Pastorius reissue, that, “Our magazine is serving a primarily hipster set which is into hip-hop, rock, electronica, some kitschy pop and obscure things that they may not have heard of from time to time. So, we have to bend in that direction more."

He ...
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Event

Hollywood Bowl Extravaganza to Reunite Original Members of Return to Forever and All-Star Guests

Source: DL Media
August 4, 2009

Hollywood Bowl Extravaganza to Reunite Original Members of Return to Forever and All-Star Guests Corea, Clarke & White will be joined by vocal great Chaka Khan, violin virtuoso Jean-Luc Ponty and original RTF guitarist Bill Connors on September 2, 2009 Chaka Khan, Jean-Luc Ponty and Bill Connors will take the stage with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White at the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 2 for one show only, commencing Corea, Clarke & White's first worldwide trio tour.
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Performance / Tour

Bill Connors to Join Corea, Clarke & White for September 2nd Hollywood Bowl Concert

Source: All About Jazz
June 26, 2009

It's official: pianist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White will be joined September 2nd by guest guitarist Bill Connors at the Hollywood Bowl kick-off gig of their fall tour. The band, now billed as Corea, Clarke & White, will also be joined by legendary violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and song stylist Chaka Khan.

Inspired by what his friend and fellow Miles Davis alumnus John McLaughlin was doing with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Corea originally brought Connors extraordinarily expressive electric guitar ...
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Music Industry

Jazz Legends Return to Forever Auctioning Autographed Collectibles to Benefit VH1 Save the Music Foundation

Source: All About Jazz
October 1, 2008

Fresh from their impressive US and European summer reunion tour, the influential jazz fusion/rock foursome Return to Forever has teamed up with Paid, Inc. to auction autographed collectors items online to benefit the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. The auction is live now on www.Return2Forever.com and will conclude on October 6 2008. Return to Forever, a legendary jazz group founded by Chick Corea and beloved worldwide for over 25 years, is hosting the auction to support youth music education. Return ...
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Music Industry

Return to Forever and Paid, Inc. Auctioning Autographed Collectibles

Source: All About Jazz
September 30, 2008

Fresh from their impressive U.S. and European summer reunion tour, the influential jazz fusion/rock foursome Return To Forever has teamed up with the experts at Paid, Inc. to auction autographed collectors items online to benefit the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. The auction is live now on Return2Forever.comand will conclude on October 6, 2008. Return to Forever, a legendary jazz group founded by Chick Corea and beloved worldwide for over 25 years, is hosting the auction to support youth music ...
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