As the sixties ended three "fusion" bands emerged as the leaders in quality of music, playing and sophistication. These bands were the Mahavishnu  Orchestra, lead by guitarist John McLaughlin, Weather Report, co-lead by keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter and, lastly, Return To Forever, lead by keyboardist Chick Corea. All three bands had(for jazz, anyway)lengthy histories. So I'm only going to deal with one: Return To Forever (RTF).

In February and October of 1972 Corea did two recordings that were the genesis for the group that became known as RTF. The first of these was done for the small (at the time) German label,  ECM. The recording was titled "Return To Forever" but was released under Chick Corea's name. The personnel was Corea on keyboards, Stanley Clarke on acoustic and electric  bass, Joe Farrell on woodwinds, Flora Purim as vocalist and her husband, Airto, on percussion and drums. The music on this disc had a heavy Brazilian-influence (Mainly due to the presence of Purim and Airto). While Corea played the Rhodes piano on a majority of the music and Clarke electric bass on some, this was primarily a group with an acoustic sound. The second recording, done in 1972, was "Light As A Feather" and was released as Chick Corea and Return To Forever as the artist. The personnel on this record was the same as "Return To Forever". This music was basically light and very accessible. The tenor sax, soprano sax and flute of Joe Farrell gave the average jazz listener a base in more traditional jazz. Airto's percussion and drums gave the music drive and energy while maintaining the traditions of Brazilian music.

From these two recordings came the tunes "La Fiesta", "Spain" and "500 Miles High", all of which went on to become jazz standards. As a side note, in 1975 Stan Getz released the album "Captain Marvel" using Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and  Tony Williams and playing mostly compositions from the first two RTF  releases.

While "Bitches Brew" had been a boiling cauldron of music, the first incarnation of RTF had been much more laid back. This was not to last. 

Beginning in 1973 and running through 1976 Corea took the RTF in an entirely different direction. What had been an airy, Brazilian group was transformed into an extremely high energy, primarily electric quartet. Corea and Clarke were the only holdovers from the first recordings. On the 1973 release, "Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy", the volume and intensity levels went through the roof. The group added guitarist Bill Connors and drummer Lenny White. Corea envisioned this version of RTF as a touring group that could play in larger venues and appeal to a much younger listener. Like his "mentor", Miles Davis, he wanted as many people as possible to hear this music. Instruments like clavinets, organs and multiple synthesizers were added to the mix. And, of course, the power electric guitar of Connors was a huge part of this new sound. The original drummer for the group had been Steve Gadd. He was unwilling to leave NYC for the extensive touring that would be required so a replacement needed to be found. Lenny White was a logical choice. He had played on the "Bitches Brew" sessions, worked with Clarke in Joe Henderson's band and spent some time as the drummer for a San Francisco-based rock group, Azteca. After White came on board, the entire " Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy" record was redone using him instead of Gadd. But what came to be known as the "classic" RTF line-up still wasn't in place. 

Bill Connors, tired of touring, decided to leave the group. Corea had received an audition cassette from a teenage guitarist, studying at Berklee, Al DiMeola. What Corea heard astounded him. He contacted DiMeola and hired him for the band. DiMeola literally went from being a student to playing with a name jazz group at Carnegie Hall in three days. Now the "classic" band was in place.

With the addition of DiMeola, the sound of the band changed once again. Through three recordings, "Where Have I Known You Before" (1974), "No Mystery" (1975) and "Romantic Warrior" (1976), the band's music became more complex and powerful. The emphasis was placed on music that, while still high energy and electric, became increasingly sophisticated. All four musicians contributed to the compositional nature of the music. Instead of shorter, almost jam-like, rock tunes, the band was now recording much longer pieces, almost suite-like in nature. Three examples of this are the tunes "Song To The Pharaoh Kings" from "Where Have I Known You Before", "Celebration Suite: Part 1 & 2" from "No Mystery" and "Duel Of The Jester And Tyrant: Part 1 & 2" from "Romantic Warrior".

The band had reached a high level of popularity by 1976. "Romantic Warrior" had been released by Columbia Records, with much larger distribution than their previous efforts. Also, the album achieved gold record status. All of the musicians had begun successfully recording projects on their own. And then...the band fell apart. 

There have been many theories and arguments about what cause the split. Everything from Corea and Clarke's devotion to Scientology to the inertia that causes "super-groups" to just implode. For whatever reason, none of the musicians have ever given a specific reason, preferring to talk of the split in only "politically correct" terms. 

In 1977 Corea continued the RTF name with a group that included four horns along with Clarke and the return of Joe Farrell. The band also featured the vocals of Gayle Moran, Corea's partner and, later, wife. This group recorded a live double-album for Columbia.

While this signaled the end of the RTF "franchise", over the years fans clamored for a reunion of the original "classic" quartet. There were a couple of abortive attempts, primarily in 1983, with a very short tour that used new music. The fans wanted to hear the "old favorites" and no successful efforts were attempted until 2008. 

At long last the original quartet reunited for a tour that was triumphant and artistically rewarding for the musicians as well as the fans. The tour lasted the better part of a year and produced a double-CD and DVD. The CD was made up of "best" performances from the tour while the DVD was recorded "live" at the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival.

While there are no plans for a reunion of the original RTF, the band certainly left a legacy of a time when jazz was going through major changes. These changes are still being felt in the music of today. Some listeners viewed "fusion" as a bastardization of traditional jazz. Others welcomed it as a fresh and sorely needed injection of energy. Love it or hate it "fusion" and Return To Forever is forever a part of the jazz legacy.

[Editor's note: a new installment of the band, Return to Forever IV, is on tour this summer and will be at the Nashville Symphony Center August 22, along with Dweezil Zappa and "Zappa Plays Zappa."]

Copyright, 2011 Mark Edwards