Return to Forever
 

Arguably one of the greatest supergroups in jazz history, the Chick Corea-fronted band has a few great albums under their sleeves. Return to Forever is extremely accessible yet maintains an incredible level of virtuosity associated with musicians in their genre. They never achieved critical acclaim like Mahavishnu Orchestra or Weather Report, but nevertheless represent an enormous contribution to jazz fusion. Active from 1971 to 1977, they've got a few gems tucked away:

Hymns of the Seventh Galaxy (1973)
Where Have I Known You Before (1974)
Romantic Warrior (1976)

A brief scan of the YouTub of music yielded me this:


And some great news a la Wiki:
The 2008 lineup includes all members of the classic lineup (from 1974 to 1976). I'm veeeeery excited to see what emerges as a result.

Even if you're not into jazz fusion, I strongly suggest checking this band out. Any interested parties are welcome to PM me for "further information." ;)

I enjoy Romantic Warrior - it strikes a nice balance between prog, jazz and rock. And the lineup is unreal.

Chick Corea came to NZ last year (10 days after Herbie Hancock) and he's coming again in a few months. But Kraftwerk and Stereolab are performing before then so I doubt I'll have any money by that point.

Told you I'd pop in. Great video, they certainly are great musicians. I'm going to pick up Romantic Warrior then, based on Seltzer's short review there, and if I like it I'll go from there.

Hmmm. Not sure. A PM may help me a little more ;)

I'm still waiting for the PM :(.

PM sent. Enjoy.

I would also like some further information ;)

I just listened to this.

Damn, that's some awesome technical skills shown there. I think Jazz-fusion is the only area where one can show their technical skills and still have good music to go along with it. Anyways, from what I listened to -

The opening track, Medieval Overture gave an hint of what's to come, although parts of it didn't work all that well. The Sorceress is damn funky and groovy and my second favorite from the album. Has some great piano work in the middle as well. The title track is definitely my favorite :). All the musicians did their part here and the track went along perfectly. Majestic Dance is a bit more strait forward and didn't impress me as much as the rest. A good tune though nonetheless and has Al Di Meola written all over it with his typical guitar shredding. The Magician was kinda weird and I'm not sure whether I liked it not. Need to listen to it another time. That goofy part at around 3 - minutes odd was especially weird :crazy:. Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant was another highlight here. Definitely one of the best, and as good as the title track.

So, overall, I'm definitely impressed, but I don't think the album is perfect. Both Majestic Dance & The Magician could have been a bit better though.

I saw them preform in June on there world tour in Indianapolis, and i must say they are incredible.....I love Stanly

Interesting group here; from what snippets I've gone through on YouTube, I concuded that I definitely need to obtain one or two of their albums post-haste!!

RTF own. i saw them last june in Vancouver as part of there tour. It was incredible.

Note for Note
 

Found a video on youtube, talk about diligence. Guy plays Al DiMeola note for note. Search for "Dark Eye Tango" on Youtube.

Light As A Feather: Yum. All the rest: Yuk.

:whythis:

I'd actually say the exact opposite. Light as a Feather (along with the vast majority of Chick Corea's solo stuff) is dated as fuck and just foul in general.

I don't want to claim that RTF were the greatest jazz band ever; the early works were very derivative of Mahavishnu Orchestra and their later ones pandered to popular demand more than anything else. Overall they're still a great band and their records from the mid-seventies survive as a testament of the force of good jazz fusion.

I realize this thread is old, but as a great appreciator of RTF, it just made me think "wtf?" when I read this :p:

Derivative of Mahavishnu? You know both Corea and McLaughlin both played in Miles Davis band from where they have common fusion roots. I think from a common ground in that band, they both led their own fusion bands in fairly diverging directions. I don't think RTF's debut or second album sounds very much like Mahavishnu's early stuff. At least not more than you'd think when you take their common ancestry into consideration. Same goes for the later stuff.

I'll second, third or fourth the opinion that Romantic Warrior is the greatest fusion record of the 70s. And the title track the best song by any 70s fusion band! (Check the video in the first post if you don't know it .. pure brilliance ;))

edit :

To illustrate the point. Here's a song from RTF's debut (also appears on Light as a Feather) :



And here's a song from Mahavishnu's debut, the stuff it's supposed to be derivative of :



I mean, did you hear the bands or know their history before you wrote that post?

Listening to Light As A Feather right now and it's excellent. Would love to hear more music like this.

When Rom Warrior came out was the first time that I heard of this group out. Pretty mind blowing for a jr high kid:)mind

i think they got better when Al Di Meola joined