Chick Corea - Return To Forever (1975)

Note: the CD I listened to was 1987 reissue.

"Return To Forever" became the name Chick Corea gave to a series of three different bands during the '70s. The name was coined with the title of this album, released in 1972 in some countries but not until 1975 in the US. In the meantime, the group (in various incarnations) released four albums on the Polydor label. Regardless of release history, this album is considered by many to be a fusion classic - Corea embraced what he experienced during the Bitches Brew sessions and took the improvisational music in a more Latin-influenced direction.

Much like my experience with Bitches Brew, I was introduced to this album at a time when I was either too young or too bullheaded to understand it, i.e., sometime during my undergrad years. However, there's no denying the appeal of the album closer, La Fiesta, which I first heard when I was in high school through a Maynard Ferguson cover on his Chameleon album. Once I finally matured into the music, I enjoyed it a lot more, particularly the tracks Crystal Silence and the aforementioned La Fiesta. Corea gets writing credit on all tracks, but with this sort of first-take improvisation, there's a lot of collaboration and interplay between the musicians. Particularly noteworthy is the work of Stanley Clarke, just 20 years old at the time of recording.

Corea - electric piano
Joe Farrell - flutes, soprano saxophone
Flora Purim - vocal, percussion
Stanley Clarke - electric bass, double bass
Airto Moreira - drums, percussion

Liner notes from the 1975 ECM US release by Corea.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "Without exception, this is probably one of the finest jazz LP's in many years."
• Record World: "ensemble jazz at its finest"
• CashBox: "the music of times to come."
• Stereo Review: "out of nearly forty-seven minutes, this album contains about a half-hour of good music, which is more than one can say for any of the group's subsequent efforts on Polydor."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #8
• CashBox: #171
• Record World Jazz: #18

Tracks: Like the reviewer from Stereo Review, I could do without the vocal tracks. However, I could also listen to Crystal Silence on repeat for 30 minutes. And have.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. When my college classmates listened to fusion from the 1970's, it was usually either this group's Romantic Warrior album from 1976 or Heavy Weather by Weather Report (1977). Being young and foolish, I mistakenly believed that if a record hadn't been released in the past year or two, it wasn't worth listening to. As I've aged, I've obviously moved past that mindset. 😉