1972 · Album
Return to Forever
Recorded 1971 · ECM Records · Produced by Manfred Eicher
Bossa Nova, Fusion, and a Fresh Start
This is Chick Corea finding his people and his sound at the same time.
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea had already put in serious time as a sideman — playing with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew — when he formed Return to Forever in the early 1970s. The self-titled debut, Return to Forever (1972), is the band's most relaxed and arguably most approachable record. Where the group would later go electric and aggressive, here they are still acoustic, airy, and clearly enjoying themselves. It sounds like a band that just figured out it's a band.
The album leans hard into a bossa nova feel, with Flora Purim singing in Portuguese and English over Corea's piano and Joe Farrell's flute and soprano sax. The opener "Return to Forever" sets the mood immediately — gentle, warm, almost pastoral. "500 Miles High," which would go on to become a genuine jazz standard, is here in its original form, and it's worth hearing just to understand where that melody came from before everyone else got hold of it. Corea's writing is melodically generous throughout — these are tunes people can actually hum, which wasn't always a given in early-70s jazz.
What keeps this from being background music is the rhythm section. Airto Moreira on percussion and Stanley Clarke on bass bring enough energy that the album has real pulse even when it's soft. Clarke in particular sounds fully invested, and you can hear the chemistry that would keep him and Corea working together for decades. This isn't their most adventurous record — that comes later — but as a starting point, it's a genuinely good album that holds up well. If you've only heard the later, louder Return to Forever, this one might surprise you.
Who's playing
Stanley Clarkeelectric bass guitar
Chick Coreaelectric piano
Joe Farrellflute
Airto Moreiramembranophone
Where next?
More by Chick Corea
Crystal Silence 1973
Romantic Warrior 1976
The Chick Corea Acoustic Band 1989
The Chick Corea Elektric Band 1986
The musicians on this record
Journey to Love 1975
Stanley Clarke
plays electric bass guitar here
plays electric bass guitar here
♫
Virgin Land 1974
Airto Moreira
plays membranophone here
plays membranophone here
