A Return to Return to Forever

When I heard of Chick Corea's passing, I listened to Return to Forever and the follow up, Light as a Feather, my two favorites by both the man and the band.

A friend of mine, who has much better taste than I, prefers the ensemble's second incarnation of Return to Forever, citing a concert at Central Park as one of the best shows he's ever seen. Like the Mahavishnu Orchestra and others, it is a jazz-rock fusion that features a jazz group using rock instrumentation.

The first lineup - Chick, Stanley Clarke (primarily on double bass), Joe Farrell (flute, sax), Airto Moreira (drum set), and Flora Purim (vocals) plays on both Return to Forever and Light as a Feather. In between, Chick, Clarke, and Airto joined with Tony Williams to back Stan Getz on Captain Marvel. All three are included on the playlist.

Is it fusion? I guess so, although save for the electric piano. The instrumentation is fairly traditional, but Chick's Rhodes floats in an out, bubbles on top. It's a great sound, but at first Chick wasn't sure about how to use it.

In the documentary Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue both Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea discuss their original bemusement when Miles first asked them to play electric (Rhodes) piano. Herbie first thought of it as "a toy" while Chick related that he wasn't sure what to do with the sound until he started playing with the controls.

On the last album of the 2nd Quintet, Filles de Kilimanjaro you hear both of them - Chick on the RMI Electra - playing electric piano as Miles began to go electric. Traditional instrumentation, but for the piano.

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