Return To Forever

If extravagant excess, jazz-rock
division, is your preferred sonic energy drink, the reunion of the most
fantastic of the various Return To Forever lineups is the gig of the
summer. Precious few bands—Emerson Lake & Palmer and the Mahavishnu
Orchestra come to mind—indulged in ornate wankery with so much spunk
and so little fear, and in terms of sheer technical facility, RTF arguably
eclipses them all. Founding leader Chick Corea has put a notable dent
in a half-dozen jazz genres; Stanley Clarke was trailblazing what it
meant to be a fusion bassist as a teenager beside Corea back in the
early ’70s; drummer Lenny White crammed funk, jazz, and rock into the
same sidecar; and guitarist Al DiMeola is one of fusion’s most incandescent
skywriters. Since dropping three classic records more than 30 years
ago, the quartet members (especially Corea and DiMeola) have continued
to grow, meaning all those mystically-titled tunes are apt to be given
distinctive twists. For you young’uns unfamiliar with RTF, this was
what it was like before video games—we slapped "Romantic Warrior"
or "Return To the Seventh Galaxy" on the headphones and shut our
eyes.