Return To Forever - Jazz Rock Era (1973-1976)

Jazz Rock Era (1973-1976)

After the second album, Farrell, Purim and Moreira left the group to form their own band, and guitarist Bill Connors, drummer Steve Gadd and percussionist Mingo Lewis were added. However, Gadd was unwilling to tour with the band and risk his job as an in-demand session drummer. Lenny White (who had played with Corea in Miles Davis's band) replaced Gadd and Lewis on drums and percussion, and the group's third album, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973), was then rerecorded (the first recording, featuring Gadd on drums, was never released and has since disappeared).

The nature of the group's music had by now completely changed into jazz-rock, and had evolved into a similar vein as to that the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, and some progressive rock bands were also performing at the time. Their music was still relatively melodic, relying on strong themes, but the traditional jazz element was by this time almost entirely absent- replaced by a more direct, rock oriented approach. Over-driven, distorted guitar had also become prominent in the band's new sound, and Clarke had by then switched almost completely to electric bass guitar. A replacement on vocals was not hired, and all the songs were now instrumentals. This change did not lead to a decrease in the band's commercial fortunes however, Return to Forever's jazz rock albums instead found their way onto US pop album charts.

In the Sept., 1988 "Down Beat Magazine" interview with Chick Corea by Joesf Woodward, Joesf says (page 19), "There is this general view ... that ... Miles crystallized electric jazz fusion and that he sent his emmissaries out." Chick responds, "Nah, that's Disneyland. Miles is definitely a leader ... But there were other things that occurred that I thought were equally as important. What John McLaughlin did with the electric guitar set the world on its ear. No one ever heard an electric guitar played like that before, and it certainly inspired me. ... John's band, more than my experience with Miles, led me to want to turn the volume up and write music that was more dramatic and made your hair move." http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave/mclaughlin/art/sheppard.html

While their second jazz rock album, Where Have I Known You Before, (1974) was similar in style to its immediate predecessor, Corea now played synthesizers in addition to electric keyboards (including piano), and Clarke's playing had evolved considerably- now using flange and fuzz-tone effects, and with his now signature style beginning to emerge. After Bill Connors left the band to concentrate on his solo career, the group also hired new guitarists. Although Earl Klugh played guitar for some of the group's live performances, he was soon replaced by the then 19-year-old guitar prodigy Al Di Meola, who had also played on the album recording sessions.

Their following album, No Mystery (1975), was recorded with the same line-up as "Where Have I Known You Before", but the style of music had become more varied. The first side of the record consisted primarily of jazz-funk, while the second side featured Corea's acoustic title track and a long composition with a strong Spanish influence. On this and the following album, each member of the group composed at least one of the tracks. No Mystery went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group.

The final album by this longest-lasting "classic" lineup of the group was Romantic Warrior (1976), which had by this time left Polydor for Columbia Records. This album would go on to become the best selling of all Return to Forever's efforts, eventually reaching gold disc status. "Romantic Warrior" continued their experiments in the realms of jazz-rock and related musical genres, and was lauded by critics for both the technically demanding style of its compositions as well as for its accomplished musicianship.

After the release of Romantic Warrior and Return To Forever's subsequent tour in support (as well as having in addition signed a multi-million dollar contract with CBS), Corea shocked Clarke by deciding to change the lineup of the group and to not include either White or Di Meola.