Chick Corea's Happy To Return To Forever
After more than 25 years apart, the seminal jazz fusion band Return To Forever has finally returned to the road.
Why the long wait?
"The desire has been there for a long time," the band's leader Chick Corea told The ShowBuzz. "Finally I said, 'What about the summer of '08?' We all took a look and said that we could clear off our schedules. It was inevitable that one of these years it was gonna happen."
Corea formed Return to Forever in 1971, with bassist Stanley Clarke in the original lineup. Guitarist Al DiMeola and drummer Lenny White joined a few years later. They were known for their innovative use of electric guitar and bass to blur the line between jazz and rock. Corea's intricate compositions and the virtuosity of all four musicians earned them critical acclaim and a Grammy award in 1975 for best jazz performance by a group.
They released three albums together, all of which were crossover successes on the pop charts.
In 1977 they decided to go their separate ways, even though the band was at its peak.
"There always seems to be a question about why a band 'breaks up' and I never look at it that way," Corea said. "It was a pretty natural parting of the ways, in the way creative musicians do that kind of thing. After we were out on the road for months and months at a time and making a nice impact and I was writing this music and Stanley, Lenny and Al were playing the heck out of it, I thought it only right to reverse the flow to them and help them get their solo things going."
The four musicians got together this February for the first time since a brief 1983 reunion tour. Corea said that it didn't take long for them to get back in the groove.
"We were fooling around a little bit, not really playing a song," he said. "Then we sort of got down to business because we knew we wanted to put a little bit on video to stream (see below to watch) and show people we were actually together. So we started playing the first song that was recorded by the quartet, 'Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy' and then we rehearsed a little bit of 'Romantic Warrior.' We even jammed on a tune that we never played with Al but was from the first Return To Forever band, from our first album, '500 Miles High' and that was fun."
Corea said that each member of the band has grown and changed over the last 30 years and that adds something to their sound.
"But you know there's the sameness and a real differentness," he said. "The sameness is the reuniting of our friendship, which is really a blast. The thing that's different is that everyone is really different. I hate to use the term, but a little bit more 'mature.' The sonics of the band is richer now. There's a mellowness that's there that I really like."The current tour will travel through North America until the end of June and continue in Europe through July. They'll hit several jazz festivals including Montreaux in Switzerland, before returning for a final group of dates in the U.S.
In celebration of the tour, the band recently released the compilation album "Return to Forever: The Anthology." It includes newly remixed tunes from four of the group's albums: "Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy" (which features Di Meola's predecessor Bill Connors on guitar), "Where Have I Known You Before?" "No Mystery," and "Romantic Warrior."
Corea said that the members of the group have started to write some new material. In the meantime, he does plan on releasing a DVD of the tour.
"I'm really looking forward to playing anything with the guys now," Corea said. "Even though some of the compositions are relatively elaborate, the compositions have really always been an excuse to improvise and really blow. That's what was the buzz in February when we got together, and that's what the buzz is now."
More information on the tour and the new album can be found at the band's Web site.
By Judy Rosen