JAZZ LEGENDS

Jeremy Elliott

Jazz is the music that reflects the 20th Century for most of us. Although American Negro in its origins, jazz quickly became the dance music of the pre-World War II period throughout the world and influenced the musical stage, classical music (Ravel and Stravinsky for example) and of course popular song compositions of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. Some of the greatest jazz performances are here, performed by some of the greatest interpreters and soloists of the genre and this set also reflects the change in style from Big Band to smaller combos. 

Who better to open such an exploration than Duke Ellington, with ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing’ being an anthem that led on to Ellington becoming less of a pianist and arranger to more of an ‘unsung’ composer of the 20th Century. Whilst Fletcher Henderson perhaps achieved the status of ‘best big band leader’ of the early thirties, alumni such as Coleman Hawkins went on to further their careers as soloists. Henderson’s ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ and his marvellously complex ‘Queer Notions’ are proof positive of the training Coleman Hawkins received prior to his recordings of ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, ‘What A Difference A Day Made’ and ‘Body & Soul’, amongst others in this set. ‘The Hawk Flies High’ was Hawkins’ famous album of the fifties, and here we can appreciate how Henderson gave him wings to do so. 

Johnny Hodges (‘Jeeps Blues’) also carved out some solo tracks as Ellington’s right-hand tenor player, but let us not forget the other superb bands, big and small that produced music that became indispensable jazz listening: ‘Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli And The Quintet Of The Hot Club Of France’ were the epitome of European syncopation whilst Sidney Bechet was also packing the Paris clubs with his unique and expressive form of small-band swing throughout the thirties. Bechet’s ‘The Mooche’ and Reinhardt’s unmistakably swinging versions of ‘You’re Driving Me Crazy’ and ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ emphasize the importance of ‘Jazz a Paris’ during that period, and it is significant that many of the immediate post-war American jazz artists used Paris as their launching pad into Europe. Dizzy Gillespie, Ike Quebec, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk are all represented here in recordings (from the USA) that changed the face of jazz after World War Two. 

Jazz standards as we know them now were the hit records of their time and the signatures by which many great jazz artists are recognised today. Bandleader and trumpeter Bunny Berigan took to singing on ‘I Can’t Get Started’ and sold over a million copies of the Gershwin / Vernon Dukes highly up-to-the-minute American song in 1937. Artie Shaw’s ‘Thou Swell’ exemplifies the individual and stylish sound that was his alone and which produced many jazz hits during the late thirties, Shaw’s interpretation of Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Stardust’ also featuring on this set. Louis Armstrong’s ‘On The Sunny Side Of The Street’ was one of his many successful signature tunes of the late 1930s period and, moving into the early 1940s, who better to prove that jazz never stood still but Duke Ellington again, with ‘Perdido’: sophisticated swing on a ten inch record. 

Slightly less sophisticated swing comes from the un-sung Louis Jordan, now seemingly due for a revival as ‘Caldonia’ gains popularity as the ultimate vintage jazz / dance track, rhythm and humour in perfect harmony. 

‘Round Midnight’, Thelonious Monk’s anthem of the post-bop era, composed before Be-bop even got off the ground, brings in the new era of jazz and the great players mentioned earlier: Dizzy Gillespie’s ‘Manteca’ leaves one gasping for breath, whilst Ike Quebec’s ‘Girls of My Dreams’, Wardell Gray’s ‘Easy Swing’ and Errol Garner’s ‘Overture To Dawn’ were recorded specifically to lower the pulse rate. 

Great names such as Count Basie (‘Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie’), Art Tatum (‘Tiger Rag’) and Lionel Hampton (‘Don’t Be That Way’) should never be left out of any good jazz set, but also be prepared to be surprised by the unsung and highly talented George Shearing’s ‘September In The Rain’, Shearing having to emigrate to the USA rom Battersea in London to achieve his due recognition as a pianist and arranger. Charlie Barnett’s ‘Skyliner’, Billy Eckstine’s ‘Tell Me Pretty Baby’ and the fabulous Anita O’Day’s ‘Boogie Blues’ prove that the considerable talents of the not so well known in Jazz make the music that much more fascinating. 

Source: http://www.unionsquaremusic.co.uk/titlev4.php?ALBUM_ID=236&LABEL_ID=5

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THIS ARE THE JAZZ LEGENDS...

Jazz is a style of music with roots that lie in spirituals, blues, and ragtime music and that has as its main concept, the art of improvisation, conforming only to the style of the individual musician. If the listener fancies hearing the Duke Ellington version of a song, he or she would need to find the recording that featured Duke himself playing that song. A jazz musician endeavors to play a song in such a way that the audience is not necessarily impressed that the performance sounded like "the song," but rather, that it sounded like the artist. Therefore, jazz musicians that impacted the delivery and performance of jazz as it took its shape and form are considered to have had a part in fashioning this genre of music, defining its very nature by their names and individual styles. These are the jazz legends. 

Historically, the birth of jazz is credited to New Orleans. Joe "King" Oliver was a prominent jazz band leader and trumpeter who decided to move his band to Chicago when New Orleans closed the jazz district due to violence from navy sailors on shore leave. Dixieland Jazz was well received in Chicago and King Oliver's band quickly became famous. In fact, he became so successful that he sent back to New Orleans for more musicians to come to Chicago so that he could increase the size of his band. One of these musicians was the young Louis Armstrong. 

Louis Armstrong may well have been the most imaginative trumpet soloist of all times. His music exhibited an energy and power that literally drew audiences to him. Armstrong played with King Oliver for a short period of time and then formed his own group, the Hot Five. Later, the addition of two more players necessitated a name change to the Hot Seven. It was Louis who moved from a strict Dixieland Jazz style with three instruments playing melody lines weaving in and out to having only one instrument lead in improvised solos. And that instrument was usually his trumpet! Louis Armstrong, a popular figure with the press, gained national popularity for his "scat" renditions where he used his voice to produce nonsensical syllables to mimic the trumpet melody. 

Benny Goodman was a clarinetist and orchestra leader who earned the name "King of Swing." Jazz Swing was a version of jazz that offered a more syncopated rhythm that invited dancing. This gave Goodman extended possibilities for performance, as dance halls were intrigued by the live group's abilities to provide dance music. This, of course, was in addition to playing for "sit-down" audiences that were typical with most jazz band performance arrangements. The more varied concert population aided Goodman's success as well as his teaming up with an extremely talented pianist by the name of Teddy Wilson. The interplay between Goodmans' clarinet and Wilson's piano was a new twist to the jazz mode and the two men became famous. Of interest is that Goodman and Wilson presented the first racially mixed popular jazz group in the United States. They were so well received by the American populous that the U.S. State Department sponsored a good will tour by the two to the Soviet Union. 

Up to this point, much of the jazz music had been improvised. This meant that basic melody patterns and chord progressions were used, but it was the talent of the artists that made the "magic" of the music. The first jazz legends were performers of infinite natural ability. But as jazz became more and more popular, the "average" musician who lacked the natural improvisation ability desired a written score so that the styles of the "greats" could be imitated. Many jazz performers played "by ear," neither reading nor writing musical scores. The search began for a jazz composer who could capture the essence of the music and transcribe it to a written score. 

Duke Ellington was just the brilliant composer to pioneer the task! Famous for his "Big Band" sound, Ellington was himself a fine pianist. But he was even better as an orchestrator, as he "heard" how all the parts fit together and could set each instrument's part to paper. Ellington's orchestrations were even richer than the music of the original New Orleans bands, as he expanded his arrangements to use more instruments. It was typical for Ellington to use two or three trumpets, one cornet, three trombones, four saxophones, two to three clarinets, two string basses, guitar, drum, vibraphone, and piano. Because of Ellington's ability to write what he played and "heard," his music is well known even today, preserved by the scores he wrote. His most popular manuscripts include the twelve bar blues song "Ko Ko" and "Anatomy of a Murder," which was the first movie score ever composed by a jazz writer. 

Still, jazz evolved, grew, and developed. A new artist often meant a new variation of the style. Once again, a new type of jazz emerged. It was called "bebop" or "Cool" Jazz. Musicians who made this style famous include Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Bud Powell. Cool Jazz was supposedly named this because it had less emotion than the blues and suggested restraint with its laid-back tones and rhythms. Leonard Bernstein incorporated the Cool Jazz feeling when he wrote the songs for the musical "West Side Story." Bernstein's scores invited a new kind of jazz dance for the attendant choreography, slow slinking "snap-your-finger" movements that gave the musical its own sense of "cool" rhythm and flow. 

Although the essence of jazz is instrumental, vocal artists learned to express the spirit of the music, with standout performances by the likes of Mahalia Jackson and Bessie Smith. Mahalia loved all kinds of music, from gospel to blues, and back again to jazz. She believed that the roots of all jazz types were in the black spirituals she had sung with her mother as a child. As the jazz style of music grew in popularity, Mahalia was invited to sing at jazz festivals all over the United States and Europe. She consented, but only if she could sing a gospel hymn as well. The singing of Mahalia Jackson was powerful and filled with strong emotion. She could lift the rafters with her belting rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In," or make audiences weep with "Just a Closer Walk with Thee." 

Bessie Smith was another powerful songster. Born into a poor black family, Bessie began to sing in childhood, exhibiting an innate ability that made her a prodigy. So great was Bessie's potential, that she was helped into the profession by other black singers of the time. She traveled through the southern states, honing her craft and determining her own personal style through performances in the saloons and smaller theaters of Atlanta, Savannah, Birmingham, and Memphis. Columbia Records heard of the young girl, signing her to her first album in 1923. Bessie sang about poverty and oppression, love and loss. She could belt out her anger at the cruelty of the world or sigh at its indifference with the grace of a willow tree bending in the breeze. It is not surprising that Bessie Smith became the "Empress of the Blues." 

Another great woman in jazz was Billie Holiday, or "Lady Day," as she was affectionately called. The daughter of a guitarist, Billie became acquainted with jazz as a child when the brothel keeper for whom she ran errands allowed her to hear recordings of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. She learned to sing along with the music on the recordings, developing her own sense of style. As a young girl, Billie Holiday began singing in Harlem nightclubs. At first, the jazz world did not receive her as a serious artist. Then in 1936, Lady Day met the saxophonist Lester Young. Together, they created and fine-tuned the most exquisite interchanges between a vocal line and an instrumental obligato ever heard in the world of jazz. 

As jazz continued to evolve throughout the twentieth century, it took on different characteristics, depending - as it always had - on the performers. Modern jazz artists of the later half of the twentieth century include Ray Charles, Pete Fountain, Aretha Franklin, Sammy Davis Junior, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, and Marcus Roberts. With the exception of Pete Fountain, who himself declared his form of music "New Orleans Jazz," the style exhibited by these artists is not so often thought of as "jazz," but rather as Rhythm and Blues, or "R & B." Still, the mode and aspect of R & B is reminiscent of the music that represents the earliest beginnings of jazz. The rhythms, "licks," and bending of pitch are the products of the blues melodies. The unique interpretations of chord structures are most assuredly derived from the 12-bar chord progressions that inspired the improvisations of instrumentalists and vocalists alike. These were the tools that were used by the jazz legends to forge the way for a new kind of music. Their style and contributions will always be with us, if not at the hand of the new performers, perhaps in the sigh of the willow tree. Readmore...

CHICK COREA

Considering the staggering volume of his recorded output over the past 40 years, it is no overstatement to call Chick Corea one of the most prolific composers of the second half of the 20th century. From avant-garde to bebop, from children’s songs to straight-ahead, from hard-hitting fusion to heady forays into classical, Chick has touched an astonishing number of musical bases in his illustrious career while maintaining a standard of excellence that is simply uncanny. 

Since heeding the solo calling in 1966 with his critically acclaimed debut, Tones for Joan's Bones, Chick has been at the forefront of jazz, both as a renowned pianist forging new ground with his acoustic jazz bands and as an electric keyboardist experimenting with deepening and expanding the sound of fusion with his pioneering groups such as Return to Forever and the Elektric Band. His career resume teems with accolades, including more than 50 Grammy nominations and 14 Grammy Awards. In 2005 Chick was honored with the prestigious Award for the Piano Festival Ruhr in Germany, the first time the honor was granted to a jazz pianist; and in 2006, he became an NEA Jazz Master, the highest honor the U.S. bestows on jazz musicians.

Chick’s extensive discography boasts numerous “essential” albums, beginning with his 1968 classic, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (Blue Note), and continuing with several critically acclaimed albums released recently, including his duet with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck (the Grammy-winning CD, The Enchantment) and The New Crystal Silence, the brilliant 35-year-anniversary recording with vibraphonist Gary Burton. 

“I decided when I was a young man to make it as my primary policy to always keep myself interested and challenged with music," says Chick. "I've managed to avoid falling into the habit of doing the same thing over and over again, and it’s really proved to be a good thing for me. I don’t care about the other things, I care that I’m having a lot of fun and creating. So I feel honored and lucky to be able to continue to do that and be able to make a living doing it.” 

Born Armando Anthony Corea in Chelsea, Massachusetts on June 12, 1941, he began studying piano at age four. Early on in his development, Horace Silver and Bud Powell were important piano influences while access to the music of Beethoven and Mozart inspired his compositional instincts. An interesting, little-known fact is that Chick’s first major professional gig was with Cab Calloway, which came before early stints in Latin bands led by Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo (1962-63). 

There followed important tenures with trumpeter Blue Mitchell (1964-66), flutist Herbie Mann and saxophonist Stan Getz before Chick made his recording debut as a leader in 1966 with Tones for Joan’s Bones (which featured trumpeter Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonist and flutist Joe Farrell, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Joe Chambers). During these formative years, Chick also recorded sessions with Cal Tjader (1966's Soul Burst, on Verve), Stan Getz (1966's What the World Needs Now: Stan Getz Plays Bacharach, on Verve), Donald Byrd (1967's Creeper, on Blue Note), and Dizzy Gillespie (1967's Live at the Village Vanguard, on Blue Note). 

After accompanying Sarah Vaughan in 1967, Chick went into the studio in March of 1968 and recorded Now He Sings, Now He Sobs with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes. That trio album is now considered a jazz classic. In the fall of 1968, Chick replaced Herbie Hancock in Miles Davis' band. In September of that year, he played Fender Rhodes electric piano on Miles' important and transitional recording Filles de Kilimanjaro, which pointed to a fresh new direction in jazz. Between 1968 and 1970, Chick also appeared on such groundbreaking Davis recordings as In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Live-Evil and Live at the Fillmore East. He was also a key player in Davis' electrified ensemble that appeared before 600,000 people on August 29, 1970 at the Isle of Wight Festival in England (captured on Murray Lerner's excellent documentary, Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue). 

Shortly after that historic concert, both Chick and bassist Dave Holland left Miles' group to form the cooperative avant-garde quartet Circle with drummer Barry Altschul and saxophonist Anthony Braxton. Though its tenure was short-lived, Circle recorded three adventurous albums, culminating in the arresting live double LP Paris-Concert (recorded on February 21, 1971 for the ECM label) before Chick changed directions again. His excellent Piano Improvisations, Vol. 1 and 2, recorded over two days in April 1971 for ECM, was the first indication that solo piano performance would become fashionable. 

Toward the end of 1971, Chick formed his first edition of Return to Forever with Stanley Clarke on acoustic bass, Joe Farrell on soprano sax and flute, Airto Moreira on drums and percussion and Moreira’s wife Flora Purim on vocals. On February 2 and 3, 1972, they recorded their self-titled debut for ECM, which included the popular Corea composition "La Fiesta." A month later, on March 3, 1972, Chick, Stanley, Airto and drummer Tony Williams teamed together as the rhythm section for Stan Getz's Columbia recording Captain Marvel, which featured five Corea compositions, including "500 Miles High," "La Fiesta" and the title track. By September of that year, Chick was back in the studio with Return to Forever to record the classic Light as a Feather (Polydor), a collection of melodic Brazilian-flavored jazz tunes including new versions of "500 Miles High" and "Captain Marvel" along with Chick's best-known composition, "Spain." In November of 1972, Chick also recorded the sublime Crystal Silence (ECM), his initial duet encounter with vibraphonist and kindred spirit Gary Burton. 

By early 1973, Return to Forever had taken a different course. Following the addition of electric guitarist Bill Connors and thunderous drummer Lenny White, the group was fully fortified to embrace the emerging fusion movement with a vengeance. Their August 1973 recording, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (Polydor), instantly elevated them to the status of other fiery fusion bands of the day like John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Larry Coryell's Eleventh House and the Joe Zawinul-Wayne Shorter-led juggernaut, Weather Report. By the summer of 1974, with the 19-year-old speed demon guitarist Al DiMeola replacing Connors in the RTF lineup, the transformation to a bona fide high-energy jazz-rock concert attraction was complete (see the official Return to Forever Web site: Return2Forever.com). Hordes of rock fans embraced the group and were able to enter the world of jazz through such important albums as 1974's Where Have I Known You Before (Polydor), 1975's Grammy Award-winning No Mystery (Polydor) and 1976's Romantic Warrior (Columbia), which became the best-selling of the RTF studio albums. 

During this same period, Chick also turned out two highly personal recordings in 1975's jazzy showcase The Leprechaun (Polydor) and 1976's flamenco-flavored My Spanish Heart.

A third edition of RTF featured a four-piece brass section along with bassist Clarke, charter RTF member Joe Farrell, drummer Gerry Brown and Chick's future wife Gayle Moran on vocals. Together they recorded 1977's Musicmagic (Columbia) and the four-LP boxed set R.T.F. Live (Columbia), which captured the sheer energy and excitement of the full ensemble on tour. 

Shortly after disbanding RTF, Chick and Herbie Hancock teamed up in early 1978 for a tour playing duets exclusively on acoustic pianos. Their chemistry was documented on two separate recordings: 1978’s Homecoming (Polydor) and 1980's An Evening With Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea (Columbia), a two-LP set that featured renditions of Chick's "La Fiesta" and Herbie's "Maiden Voyage" along with expressive takes on Béla Bartok's "Mikrokosmos" and the Disney staple, "Someday My Prince Will Come." 

Also in 1978, a year marked by a flurry of activity, Chick released The Mad Hatter (ECM), with original RTF saxophonist Joe Farrell, drummer Steve Gadd and former Bill Evans Trio bassist Eddie Gomez, and followed up with the wide-open blowing date Friends (Polydor), featuring the same stellar crew. Before the year was out Chick also managed to record the provocative Delphi I: Solo Piano Improvisations.
 
Secret Agent introduced a fresh new rhythm section of drummer Tom Brechtlein (currently a member of the Touchstone band) and France's fretless electric bass wonder, Bunny Brunel. Vocalist Gayle Moran and saxophonist Joe Farrell were also featured on this solid 1979 outing. 
 
At the beginning of 1981, Chick recorded Three Quartets, a swinging encounter with tenor sax great Michael Brecker, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Steve Gadd that included a piece dedicated to Duke Ellington and John Coltrane. Later that year he toured in an all-star quartet with saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Roy Haynes. Their near-telepathic post-bop chemistry was documented on the exhilarating Live in Montreux. That same year, Chick also had a reunion with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes for the double LP Trio Music (ECM), released 13 years after their landmark recording, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs.

The year 1982 was again marked by a flurry of creative activity that yielded such gems as the Spanish-tinged Touchstone (featuring flamenco guitar great Paco de Lucia and a reunion of Chick's RTF band mates Al Di Meola, Lenny White and Stanley Clarke on the aptly-titled "Compadres"), the adventurous Again and Again (a quintet date featuring the remarkable flutist Steve Kujala), Chick's ambitious Lyric Suite for Sextet (a collaboration with vibraphonist Gary Burton augmented by string quartet) and The Meeting (a duet encounter with renowned classical pianist Friedrich Gulda). 

1982 also marked the formation of the Echoes of an Era band (essentially an all-star backing band for R&B singer Chaka Khan's first foray into jazz). This stellar group, featuring Chick on piano with his former RTF band mates Stanley Clarke on upright bass and Lenny White on drums, augmented by jazz greats Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and Joe Henderson on tenor sax, recorded Echoes of an Era with Chaka and followed up with the all-instrumental studio recording Griffith Park Collection and the live double-LP, Griffith Park Collection, Vol. 2, all for the Elektra/Musician label.

Chick followed up with a string of eclectic offerings in 1983's solo piano project Children Songs (ECM), 1984's Voyage (a duet project with flutist Kujala for ECM), 1985's Septet (an ambitious five movement suite for piano, flute, French horn and string quartet) and 1985's Trio Music: Live in Europe (another ECM outing with Vitous and Haynes).

Through the remainder of the '80s and into the early '90s, Corea returned to the fusion arena with a vengeance with his Elektric Band, featuring drummer Dave Weckl, saxophonist Eric Marienthal, bassist John Patitucci and guitarist Frank Gambale. Together they recorded a string of five hard-hitting offerings for the GRP label that ranked with the best fusion of the latter half of the '80s, including 1986's Elektric Band, 1987's Light Years, 1988's excellent Eye of the Beholder, 1990's Inside Out and 1991's Beneath the Mask. 

To balance his forays into electric music, Chick also formed his Akoustic Band, a highly interactive trio with Elektric Band members Patitucci on upright bass and Weckl on drums. They recorded 1989's Akoustic Band and 1990's Alive, both on GRP. The second edition of Chick's Elektric Band, featuring bassist Jimmy Earl, guitarist Mike Miller, drummer Gary Novak and original EB member Eric Marienthal on saxophone, released 1993's Paint the World on GRP. That same year, Chick also recorded a set of solo piano jazz standards, Expressions (GRP), which he dedicated to jazz piano legend Art Tatum.

By 1992, Chick realized a lifelong goal in forming Stretch Records, a label committed to stretching musical boundaries and focusing more on freshness and creativity than on musical style. Among its early releases were projects by Bob Berg, John Patitucci, Eddie Gomez and Robben Ford. After Chick’s ten-year relationship with GRP ended in 1996, following the release of Time Warp, his swinging acoustic jazz quartet recording with saxophonist Bob Berg, drummer Gary Novak and Patitucci on upright bass, Stretch Records became a subsidiary of Concord Records and Chick decided to be part of Stretch's artist roster. 

Chick’s first release for his new label, which he had formed with manager Ron Moss, was 1997’s Remembering Bud Powell, an all-star outing that featured young talent like tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, trumpeter Wallace Roney, alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett and bassist Christian McBride, along with jazz drumming legend Roy Haynes (who had performed on the bandstand beside Powell in the early ‘60s). Also in 1997, Chick released a recording with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra with Bobby McFerrin as conductor. Their second collaboration, entitled The Mozart Sessions (Sony Classical), followed on the heels of their first duet, 1991’s Play (Blue Note). That same incredibly productive year, Chick unveiled his acoustic sextet Origin (the band’s self-titled debut release was a live recording at the Blue Note club in New York) and also teamed up with old partner Gary Burton, rekindling their chemistry from the ‘70s on Native Sense–The New Duets, which earned Chick his ninth Grammy Award.

In 1998, Chick released the six-disc set A Week at the Blue Note, documenting the high-flying Origin sextet in full stride in all its spontaneously combustible glory over the course of three nights. He followed that up in 1999 with Origin’s third outing, Change, which was recorded within the relaxed confines of the home Chick shares with his wife and singer Gayle Moran in Florida. As he explained at the time, “The first record was a mishmash of all kinds of stuff-—old tunes, standards, jam-session tunes and new written music-—whereas Change is focused on music specifically written for a known group that has become an entity. With this record, I wanted to try more thorough writing with the band. Everyone responded to it very well.” Also in 1999, Chick recorded two solo piano gems, Piano Originals and Piano Standards, both on Stretch.

Chick ushered in the new millennium with 2000's Corea Concerto (Sony Classical), a grand encounter with the London Philharmonic Orchestra that featured a new symphonic arrangement of “Spain” as well as the premiere of his “Piano Concerto No. 1.” At the time he said of this mammoth undertaking, “For my concerto I chose almost the exact same instrumentation as the Mozart piano concerto orchestrations. I figured that I could perform the Mozart and my own piece with the same size orchestra, and that would be a good practical start for me. So, with the spirit and sound of Mozart’s piano concerto music, I wrote this piece and dedicated it to the spirit of religious freedom which, for me, is on the same level as the creative freedom that is the basic right of all people.”  

Chick also explained why he chose to do a new version of “Spain.” “If there is any one song that listeners seem to know me best by, I guess that song is ‘Spain,’ as I get the most requests for it and hear it mentioned more than any of the others. I wrote the song in 1971 and played it frequently with RTF and many other bands of mine. I reharmonized the theme and made a brand new arrangement of it for the Akoustic Band trio in 1988, and have generally turned the song inside out through the years. This is a final visit to ‘Spain’ in grand fashion and a tip of the hat to the art cultures of Spain, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina and New York.”
 
In 2001, Chick unveiled his New Trio, featuring drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Avishai Cohen, on Past, Present & Futures (Stretch). By the end of that year, Chick was engaged with his ambitious three-week career retrospective at the Blue Note, which yielded the two-CD set Rendezvous in New York and the 10-DVD set documenting nearly eight hours of performances with Origin, the Akoustic Band, New Trio, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs Trio, Remembering Bud Powell Band and Three Quartets Band, as well as duets with Bobby McFerrin, Gary Burton and Gonzalo Rubalcaba.
 
In 2004, Chick reunited his high-powered Elektric Band for a tour and subsequent recording based on L. Ron Hubbard’s science fiction novel To the Stars. And in 2005, he returned to Hubbard for musical inspiration, this time interpreting The Ultimate Adventure. Chick’s acoustic/electric tone poem was recognized with two Grammy nominations—remarkably his 49th and 50th. An exotic blend of passionate flamenco melodies, North African and Middle Eastern grooves and adventurous improvisation, Chick’s latest score was inspired by Hubbard’s romantic novel set against a backdrop of scenes and characters from the ancient tales, The Arabian Nights. This scintillating suite of world-jazz reunited Chick with key colleagues from the past, including flutist Hubert Laws (who played on 1969’s Is and 1978’s Tap Step), Brazilian percussionist Airto Moriera (drummer on 1972’s Light as a Feather and percussionist on 1978’s Tap Step and Secret Agent) and drummer Steve Gadd (whose precision playing fueled 1975’s Leprechaun, 1976’s My Spanish Heart and 1978’s Mad Hatter, and who also provided the swinging momentum on 1978’s Friends and 1981’s Three Quartets). 

Together with more recent Chick collaborators like Elektric Band guitarist Frank Gambale, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, Origin saxophonist Tim Garland and Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy, they joined members of Chick’s current Touchstone band—drummer and longtime collaborator Tom Brechtlein, percussionist Ruben Dantas, saxophonist-flutist Jorge Pardo and bassist Carles Benavent—for some high-spirited, tightly crafted ensemble playing that blended electric and acoustic instruments into one seamless, cinematic and organic whole. Flutist Steve Kujala, a frequent collaborator in the early ‘80s (Again and Again, Touchstone, Voyage, Septet), also appeared on a rendition of Chick’s classic “Captain Marvel” (a bonus track that appeared on the Japanese release only).

“A force that has come to the fore for these last two projects was my lifelong connection with L. Ron Hubbard’s works,” says Chick. “I had such an inspiring time doing the To the Stars project. There was such a synergy created with me writing musical portraits of his fiction work that I didn’t want it to stop. So one project followed on the heels of the other.” Chick’s richly appointed music on The Ultimate Adventure, the No. 1 jazz record on XM Radio, provided a kind of sonic landscape for Hubbard’s compelling story, continuing the creative streak he established with To the Stars. 

In 2006, there was no time for Chick to rest on his well-deserved laurels. In fact, given the multitude of projects and the plenitude of awards, it seemed that he rarely eased up at all—an impressive achievement given that on June 12, he turned 65, the age traditionally associated with retirement. But with the true essence of play at the operative core of his life, Chick continued to have much to say musically. 

In July in Vienna, he premiered his “Piano Concerto #2,” commissioned by Wiener Mozartjahr 2006, in celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday anniversary. He performed the piece with the Bavarian Chamber Orchestra and toured throughout Europe with the group.

In addition,Chick delivered Super Trio Corea/Gadd/McBride, featuring drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Christian McBride. The live set, comprising many of Chick’s compositional gems, was released only in Japan through Universal and is available as an import and through Chick’s website, www.chickcorea.com. It was named the jazz album of the year by Japan's Swing Journal, thereby winning the publication’s coveted Gold Disc Award. 

In December 2006, Chick recorded The Enchantment, a remarkable duo outing with banjo extraordinaire Béla Fleck. The two had admired each other's music for several years. Chick had previously recorded three songs on Béla’s 1994 Flecktones CD, Tales From the Acoustic Planet, as well as on the group’s 1996 live CD, Live Art. Chick, in turn, had enlisted Fleck to perform with him and Bobby McFerrin on the 2002 Rendezvous in New York project.

Fleck said that The Enchantment was “one of my greatest experiences as a musician…playing with my hero, Chick Corea.” Chick returned the compliment by saying that the album broke new ground for him, with Fleck inspiring him to delve into “unfamiliar territory.” He said, “I love those kinds of challenges, and we had a blast on The Enchantment, which has a totally new kind of sound.”

The album, released in 2007, spawned an expansive tour. Also in 2007, the indefatigable artist stretched his creative reach further with The New Crystal Silence, the dazzling duo partnership with Gary Burton that celebrated the 35th anniversary of their first collaboration, documented on the 1972 ECM disc, Crystal Silence. That debut album not only forged their alchemic partnership, but also brought to renown the deep and insightful collaboration of the two virtuosic improvisers. (The duo recorded four more albums and never skipped a year performing together.)

Released on Concord Records, The New Crystal Silence was a double CD featuring the pair performing with the Sydney Symphony and as a duet captured in a sublime performance at the Molde Jazz Festival in Molde, Norway. The orchestral concert bears the fruit of an invitation from two symphonies in Australia, in Perth and Sydney, which offered the twosome the opportunity to perform and record their repertoire in an orchestral setting. As for the duo disc, Chick and Gary marked their long relationship onstage of anticipating each other’s musical ideas by embarking on a worldwide tour and then chose one of their best performances to document.

Burton said, “We both feel that our music has evolved in the last 10 years more than it did before. We play the tunes very differently, with fresh concepts and new inspiration.” Chick agreed: “The way we were approaching the music during our 35th anniversary concert tour was so different that I thought it warranted documentation.” 

Writing in The New Crystal Silence CD liner notes, friend and collaborator Pat Metheny lauded the duo’s creatively vibrant history: “When Crystal Silence came out, there was a freshness about it…35 years later, that freshness remains, enhanced by three decades of shared life experiences. There is a sense of infinity and eternity here, as if Chick and Gary could take any worthy piece and play it forever, finding new things each time around. That sense of endlessness offers hope and inspiration. That is the message of this music to me.”

The biggest Chick news of 2008 was the reuniting of the classic Return to Forever lineup of guitarist Al Di Meola, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White. It marked the first time they played together as a group in 25 years. Before embarking on its eagerly anticipated world tour, Concord Records released the two-CD set, The Anthology: Return to Forever, which gathered together for the first time the best of RTF’s classic albums, completely remixed and remastered. The tunes on the compilation included “Dayride,” “Sofistifunk,” “No Mystery,” “Celebration Suite,” “Medieval Overture,” “Sorceress,” The Romantic Warrior,” “Majestic Dance,” “The Magician” and “Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant (Part I and II).”

Return to Forever graced the cover of DownBeat magazine and garnered the feature story, “Let Them Hear Fusion.” In the article, on the eve of the premiere reunion concert in Austin, Texas, on May 29, Chick said, “I can’t wait to see what happens. So many people—and that includes the members of the band—have waited so long for this. Playing the music again with the guys in rehearsals has been so much fun, but doing this for our fans is almost too good to be true.”

The RTF tour circled the globe before concluding in August. It was touted as the jazz tour of the summer of 2008.

2008 also saw the release of the Five Trios Box Set, a six-CD set of five different trios Chick recorded with, dating back to 2005. Also, there were new studio recordings. The box set was released in Japan only by Universal. 

The trio discs featured Chick leading the following bass/drum bands: John Patitucci and Antonio Sanchez (for the disc named “Dr. Joe”); Eddie Gomez and Airto Moreira (for “The Boston Three Party,” a tribute to Bill Evans recorded at Boston's Berklee Performance Center on April 28, 2006); Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette (for “From Miles,” a tribute to Miles Davis, recorded live in New York, 2006); and Christian McBride and Jeff Ballard (“Chillin’ in Chelan,” a tribute to Thelonious Monk recorded live in Washington D.C. in 2005). 

The new studio recordings featured French bassist Hadrien Feraud and drummer Richie Barshay. Also included in the box set was a five-tune bonus CD, featuring two tracks from the Corea-Gomez-Moreria trio, two from the Corea-McBride-Ballard trio and one from the Corea-Patitucci-Sanchez trio.

The banner year of 2008 also saw the release of the two-CD Duet (Chick Corea & Hiromi), issued in Japan on Universal. The album featured Chick’s collaboration with Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi, recorded live at the Tokyo Blue Note in 2007. The album became the No. 1-selling CD of the year in Japan. As a result, the two performed a duet at the Budokan that attracted an audience of 5,500 people. 

Writing on his Web site, Chick said, “I wasn’t sure how an audience that large in a venue that sprawling would receive our duet, which was conceived as an intimacy, largely improvised and for a jazz-wise public. Well, what a surprise when the audience calmly and appreciatively took in the almost two-hour concert with great interest and standing ovation approval. I was so happy to see that this could happen in this day and age, and then thought, ‘Well, the Japanese have such an artistic culture that it could only happen there.’”

The concert brought back memories of the only other time Chick played the Budokan. The year was 1979 and it was the first piano duet he had ever performed. His collaborator? Herbie Hancock.

“So big thanks go to the Japanese music fans for their support of jazz music through the years.” Chick said. “5,500 people attending a one-off concert of intimate piano improvisations, not part of any series or festival. Wow, pretty nice.”

Another monumental 2008 event is the Five Peace Band group—a new Chick project that he has created with the great jazz guitarist John McLaughlin. The two are truly kindred spirits, given their individual musical histories as well as their singular virtuosity on their respective instruments. As young jazz artists, they both did stints with the legendary Miles Davis and appeared together on the groundbreaking jazz/rock/funk classic Bitches Brew. They then ventured out to form their own revolutionary bands: Chick’s RTF and John’s Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Collaborating together for the first time, Chick and John have taken a new musical leap, presenting highly creative music with Kenny Garrett on saxophone, Christian McBride on bass and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums. As an eclectic all-star ensemble, 5 Peace Band offers music that features tunes played with a nod to Miles, intricate acoustic jazz, burning jazz/rock/funk, and intimate duets. Also in the mix are Corea and McLaughlin classics. This musical pairing is one of the most important collaborations for jazz in our times—promising concerts that will be evenings not to be missed. Readmore...

DAVE BRUBECK

Terry Perkins

May 9, 2003

Dave Brubeck has been playing jazz for almost seven decades. The Concord, California-born pianist who grew up on a cattle farm in Ione and managed to graduate from the College of Pacific music program without knowing how to read music. But he also studied with famed classical composer Darius Milhaud and recorded the first million-selling instrumental album in musical history in 1959 ' five years after he became the first jazz musician ever featured on the cover of Time magazine. In 1967 he dissolved his famed Quartet, which the New Yorker rather stiltedly praised at the time as 'the world's best-paid, most widely traveled, most highly publicized, and most popular small group now playing improvised syncopated music.' 

But Brubeck's popularity continued unabated. He has gone on to record large-scale orchestral works with symphonies, oratorios. He has toured and recorded with several of his talented offspring, and at the age of 82, continues to perform hundreds of concerts around the world every year. Although his success have caused some critics to disparage his popularity, fellow musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington admired his commitment to the music ' and to his determination to bring down racial barriers wherever he played. Dave Brubeck is a jazz legend. Most importantly, he's still creating great jazz.

All About Jazz: In the liner notes to Time Signatures, the 1992 box set retrospective of your recorded music you chose personally, there's a mention about how the natural sounds and rhythms of life on your family's ranch in affected your music in later life ' especially in terms of polyryhthms. Could you talk about that? 

Dave Brubeck: My mother taught piano, including me. And she would always tell her students to try and walk a rhythm ' which isn't far removed from riding a horse and listening to the sound of its hooves, or listening to the little gasoline engine we used to pump water into the tanks for the cattle and horses. I would listen and put a different rhythm against it. I'm always listening to cars, trains or other rhythms you just hear in everyday life. It can be the sound of a fan or windshield wipers. I think a lot of jazz musicians are aware of those rhythms in everyday life.

AAJ: Your brothers were classically trained by your mother and went on to impressive careers in that field. But you didn't seem as interested in music when you were growing up.

DB: Music was always important to me, but I was thinking in different terms. I loved the ranch and wanted to stay there and run it. But I was also in a jazz band during high school and loved listening to Fats Waller and the Billy Kyle Trio on the radio. So that was also a direction I wanted to go, but when I went to College of the pacific, I originally was studying to be a vet so I could use that knowledge on the ranch. That didn't last long.

AAJ: You quickly switched to music, and somehow ended up graduating without being able to read music because you had such a good ear. That amazes me. 

DB: It amazes ME! My ear was good enough to get me by when it came to harmony and counterpoint. But you have to understand, I could write music ' I just couldn't read it. But after writing enough, I did eventually learn to read, which for me turned out to be a natural enough way. Why put the other first? Some of my favorite musicians ' my very favorite ' are in the same boat that I am.

AAJ: Who, for instance?

DB: Wouldn't you like to know! (Laughs.) Some of the biggest names. Everyone knew Errol Garner couldn't read a note ' same with Dave McKenna, and those are two of my favorites who each created complex music. Louie Armstrong wasn't a great reader, and Duke Ellington even had some problems with it. So look at whom I've named. Maybe if you start finding all these great musicians who can't read, maybe their approach to music is just as important, because look what they turned out in their lives. Certain musicians start by training their eye hand coordination. Others like me train their ears and hands.

AAJ: After graduation from College of the pacific, you were in the army during World War II where you were transferred from the infantry into a band that played for troops at the front. And after the war, you went back to school at Mills College in Oakland where you studied with the famed classical composer, Darius Milhaud. That must have been an interesting experience.

DB: It was great. I was in graduate school and still couldn't read music, but he accepted me as a student. He was very patient. But I was writing music, and that's the reason I was there to learn to be a composer.

AAJ: Milhaud was very encouraging of your interest in jazz, wasn't he?

DB: His work, Creation of the World, was one of the first ' if not the first ' ballets written in the jazz idiom. Other composers like Stravinsky used jazz, but Milhaud was a real champion of jazz. He came to my concerts for years and we used to jam at his house. He liked that.

AAJ: While you were at Mills in 1946, you started an octet in which five of the eight musicians were students of Milhaud's ' and the others included future jazz starts Paul Desmond and Cal Tjader. From the early recorded pieces of that group, it must have been an quite an interesting band.

DB: It really was. There was a lot of great jazz happening in San Francisco after the war. But keeping that octet going was just not financially possible. I played in a trio that included Paul, but he ended up taking that band with him for another job. So I eventually ended up putting together a trio of Cal on drums and Ron Crotty on bass. And it was the success of that trio that led to the reformation of the octet ' and eventually to the quartet with Paul. We played live every week on KNBC in San Francisco and drove up and down the coast playing clubs. And we put out a couple of 78s on a small label that sold pretty well.

AAJ: You were getting plenty of notice nationally at that point. Downbeat wrote articles about you, and Metronome included several of your records on its 'Best of' list in 1951. This was pretty unusual for that time ' given the East Coast emphasis of those magazines.

DB: Well, that recognition really helped us break the ice nationally. Luckily, New York reviewers like John Hammond wrote about us, and Benny Goodman and Ellington knew about us. And I think the amount of jazz talent on the West coast at that time was really amazing. Even today, I'm not sure people realize how influential it was on jazz back then.

AAJ: At that time, Desmond was playing in big bands with Jack Fina and Alvino Rey. But he ended up leaving to come back and try to sit in with your trio every chance he had. There was a special empathy you too had as musicians, wasn't there?

DB: Yeah, Paul came back and would he'd just hang out every night and want to sit in with the trio. The club owners didn't like it, because people who had bought our records wanted to hear the trio play. And there was something special Paul and I had musically. I knew it right away the first time we played.

AAJ: But Paul didn't officially become part of the band until it broke up and you had to put together a new group, right?

DB: The trio was in Honolulu, and I had a swimming accident that kept me in the hospital for several months. So the trio broke up because the other guys had to work. I wrote Paul from the hospital that we would start a quartet when I was able to play ' which we did.

“We had developed a following that went across a lot of cultural boundaries. People would say because of all our college recordings... we were just attracting college kids. But they forget we were also playing the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C...”

AAJ: The quartet recorded several albums at colleges, and you became a big success, signing with Columbia Records. (see the The Essential Dave Brubeck review )

DB: We had developed a following that went across a lot of cultural boundaries. People would say because of all our college recordings ' Jazz at Oberlin, Jazz at College of the Pacific ' we were just attracting college kids. But they forget we were also playing the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. and touring the south playing at black schools.

AAJ: In fact, after Gene Wright started playing bass in the quartet in 1958, you were the first integrated group to play at many colleges throughout the south.

DB: And NOT Play! Unless they would integrate the audience for our concerts, I'd refuse to play there. There were many times we managed to play because the students and professors wanted to hear us. It would come down to a decision by the school administrators about whether they wanted to risk losing state support over our appearance. One night it went right to the governor of the state where we were playing. I overheard the school president talking to the governor, saying, 'We don't want another Little Rock.' We had delayed the concert an hour-and-a-half, and things were getting kind of crazy. Finally, they told us that the students want you, so to avoid problems we're going to let you go on.

AAJ: Although you had been on the cover of Time in 1954 and had developed a strong following, it was the 1959 album, Time Out and the composition, 'Take Five' that really made the world take notice. Talk about that recording session ' and about how 'Take Five' happened.

DB: What I was putting together for that session ' without Columbia's knowledge ' was doing an experimental album using different time signatures. They tried to stop the album because it broke some unwritten laws of the label. First, they thought people couldn't dance to it because of the odd time signatures. And it was all original compositions on an LP, which was against their rules as well. They wanted you to have a standard tune between originals. I had to argue with everybody. Luckily, the president of Columbia loved it. But the sales department was against it. They said, 'It'll never sell. Don't waste your money on it.' As far as 'Time Out,' it was Joe Morello's rhythm and Paul's improvisations over that. I had told them to try and work out something in a 5/4 time. They came to rehearsal and really didn't have anything but some ideas and a couple of themes. I told them we would have a tune if we would do this and do that ' use what you have as the opening theme as the bridge and start with the other one. So that's the way it happened, and that album is still selling today. So I guess the sales department was wrong.

AAJ: The success of the Time Out album in 1959 was incredible. And although the Quartet was already well known, selling a million copies was quite a feat in the jazz world.

DB: It did surprise everyone ' especially the record company since their marketing department kept telling up it wasn't going to sell because of the unusual time signatures in the music. But it certainly made us even more in demand as far as concerts and touring around the world. It seemed like either we were on tour or in the studio for most of the Sixties.

AAJ: That hectic schedule was one of the things that factored in to your decision to break up the Quartet, wasn't it.

DB: Yes it was. I just wanted more time for myself and my family. And I was really interested in writing longer works that required a lot of time to compose.

AAJ: How did Paul, Joe and Gene take the decision to break up?

DB: Well, I gave the Quartet a year's notice, but they just didn't believe it. They were sure I'd change my mind. Because from their point of view, why would you break up something that's so successful? So when I actually went through with it, they were absolutely shocked.

AAJ: It was near the end of 1967 that the breakup became official. But you certainly didn't get the time off that you were hoping for did you?

DB: No, I really didn't. We officially ended the Quartet right around Thanksgiving, and we were back touring again in a matter of four to six weeks with a different group. It wasn't what I had planned for, but I got a call from George Wein, who had really helped my career by booking me at a number of festivals like Newport early on. George was producing a jazz festival in Mexico and had booked my Quartet as the headliner. When he found out I wouldn't be doing the festival, he called me up and told me that our appearance was the big reason the festival was going to happen, and if I weren't there, a lot of guys would lose work. So I thought I'd put a group together just for a few jobs hat would get us ready for the festival in Mexico. That was the group with Gerry Mulligan, Alan Dawson on drums and Jack Six on bass. And it was so successful that we just kept the group together.

AAJ: Talking about Gerry Mulligan, another great musician from the West Coast. He worked with Miles Davis on the great Birth of the Cool Blue Note album, and Gil Evans ' who also got his start on the West Coast, contributed arrangements to that session as well. Yet I think too many jazz critics tend to think of the West Coast jazz musicians from that era ' including yourself ' as all having the same type of sound. As a result, I think they really under value the contributions that West Coast musicians made to the development of jazz.

DB: You know, my brother played with Gil Evans when he had a band in Stockton, California, so I knew him early in his career. And I'm reading a book right now called Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles . If you haven't read it, it'll open your eyes to how much was really going on with jazz on the Coast. Just as far as piano players, after World War II, 'Fatha' Hines, Art Tatum and Nat Cole were all working in Los Angeles. You can't get much better than that! And that's not including all the musicians in San Francisco and other places. When I was first recording for fantasy, I was also the acting A&R man for them, and I directed them to Gerry Mulligan and Red Norvo, just to name a couple guys. And I know I'm leaving out a bunch of other great players like Shelley Manne and Bud Shank and others. But all the press was in the East and Midwest, so that's just the way things worked.

AAJ: Getting back to those longer musical works, was that a style you had wanted to work in for awhile?

DB: I was thinking about that back when I was in college and in the army. I actually wrote a ballet when I was at Mills College in 1946, and during the war I often though about writing an oratorio. Finally, about 20 years after that in the late Sixties, I finally did get around to writing some longer works. I finished my first oratorio, A Light in the Wilderness, in 1968. I finished The Gates of Justice the next year, and a couple of years after that did Truth Is Fallen. I had bits and pieces of some of them written for quite awhile, but now that I had time to concentrate more on composing, I was able to finish them. And I've enjoyed working on longer works ever since.

AAJ: One thing that has certainly been special for you has been the opportunity to play music with three of your kids. Your oldest son, Darius, plays piano, Chris plays bass and trombone, Danny plays drums and Matthew plays cello. For a time in the 1970s, you had a quartet that included Darius, Chris and Danny called Two Generations of Brubeck. And in addition Matthew, who plays cello, has worked with you on occasion as well as touring with everyone from Sheryl Crow to Tom Waits. Did you ever push them to play music when they were growing up?

DB: No, I didn't. But music was always around them. The Quartet used to rehearse at my home all the time, and once some of the kids expressed interest in playing, I wasn't going to discourage them. I never really expected the ones like who did love music to get as good as they did, and make it a profession. And actually working and touring with them has been something I'll always treasure.

AAJ: At the age of 82, it seems as if you manage to stay just as busy as when you were touring and recording with your first great Quartet. What's your schedule like these days?

DB: Well, I just finished a series of recordings of some of my larger works. I recorded The Gates of Justice with the Baltimore Symphony, and I recorded a new work I was commissioned to do with the London Symphony. It's six variations on one of the earliest Gregorian chants called 'Planget Lingua.' I also performed my 'Mass to Hope' in Germany and Vienna, and when I did it in Moscow with the Russian National Symphony and Choir it was televised. Now there's a DVD out of that performance. And this coming Easter in Vienna, I'll be doing my work, 'The Crucifixion and Resurrection.' There really seems to be a renewed interest and discovery of what you could call my sacred works. I don't know if it's the time we're living in.

As far as other recordings, Columbia is going to be reissuing a box set of my five 'Time' recordings: Time Out, Time Further Out, Time In Outer Space, Time Changes and Time In. Some of those have been out of print for awhile. I just recorded a new CD for Telarc that should be out soon, and after the short tour that's bringing me to Columbia, I'll get ready to go to Vienna, then do 18 concerts in England, then come back to play all the Festivals like Newport, Tanglewood and the JVC Jazz Festival in New York. Then I'll be back on tour in the U.S. in the fall. 

AAJ: I don't know how you keep it up' but I'm glad you do!

DB: I have to recharge my batteries every year a little more than I used to. But music is what I know how to do. So I just keep playing.

Source: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=359

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MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA

Original members included John McLaughlin (born January 4, 1942, in Yorkshire, England), guitar; Jan Hammer, keyboards; Jerry Goodman, violin; Rick Laird, bass; Billy Cobham, drums. Jean-Luc Ponty, violin, joined in 1973. Later version (formed 1984) included Bill Evans, saxophone; Danny Gottlieb, drums; Jonas Hellborg, bass; Mitch Forman, keyboards; Jim Beard, keyboards (replaced Forman, 1987).
 
The Mahavishnu Orchestra was arguably the most influential, and certainly one of the best, jazz fusion groups ever. The band's leader, John McLaughlin, inspired a generation of jazz-rockers with both his guitar wizardry and his flair as a composer. In forming the Mahavishnu Orchestra, McLaughlin brought together an unprecedented combination of elements--a background in jazz and blues, a passionate interest in Eastern (particularly Indian) music, a rock beat, and world class chops--that set the standard for fusion bands for years to come.

When the Mahavishnu Orchestra was created in 1971, it seemed like a logical next step in McLaughlin's already illustrious musical career. Like so many British guitarists, he had been fascinated by American blues as a teenager. He next steeped himself in the jazz of such giants as Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. By the early 1960s, McLaughlin was living in London and playing music professionally. His jazz dabblings led to a role with the Graham Bond Organization, a seminal British fusion group that included future Cream members Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.

In 1969 McLaughlin moved to the U.S. to join Lifetime, a new band led by drummer Tony Williams. In America, he quickly met Miles Davis, and Davis invited him to play on his album In a Silent Way. McLaughlin later contributed to several other Davis masterpieces, including Bitches Brew, which many consider to be the single album most responsible for making jazz-rock fusion a legitimate musical category. With the encouragement of Davis, McLaughlin left Lifetime in 1971 to form his own band. By this time, he had become a follower of the guru Sri Chinmoy. He decided to name his band after the name he had been given by his spiritual leader: Mahavishnu. In fact, for several years he went by the name Mahavishnu John McLaughlin.

The first incarnation of the Mahavishnu Orchestra included keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassist Rick Laird, violinist Jerry Goodman, drummer Billy Cobham, and McLaughlin on electric guitar. The group was an instant sensation. Its marriage of Eastern and Western sounds captured the attention of both jazz and rock mavens. Newsweek described their sound during an early performance as a blending of "instrumental voices swooping like electronic swallows in a summer storm." This version of the Orchestra produced three albums: The Inner Mounting Flame (1972), Birds of Fire (1973), and Between Nothingness and Eternity (1973). Birds of Fire made it into the top twenty on the album charts for 1973, but by the end of that year internal conflicts led to the dissolution of the band.

McLaughlin quickly put together a new version of the Orchestra, featuring electric violin virtuoso Jean-Luc Ponty. The album Apocalypse, released in 1974, also showcased members of the London Symphony Orchestra. That was followed by Visions of the Emerald Beyond in 1975 and Inner Worlds in 1976. Meanwhile, McLaughlin's interest in Indian music continued to grow. While the second version of Mahavishnu was still active, he began to spend more and more time working with an all-acoustic group of mostly Indian musicians, playing a slightly jazzed-up take on authentic classical music from South India. By 1976, McLaughlin had given up on the Mahavishnu Orchestra--and the guru who had given him the name--and was focusing on Shakti, the new acoustic group, full- time.

Over the next several years, McLaughlin wandered through several different musical formats, always with the thought in the back of his mind of re-emerging with a new Mahavishnu Orchestra. When his interest in Shakti waned after only a couple of years, McLaughlin picked up his electric guitar once again to perform briefly with a group he dubbed the One Truth Band, which also featured L. Shankar, the violinist from Shakti. This band released one album, Electric Dreams, in 1979. In 1978 he formed a trio with two other acoustic guitar dynamos, Paco De Lucia and Larry Cornell. Cornell was replaced in 1980 by Al Di Meola, and this group put out albums in 1981 and 1983.

The following year, McLaughlin's background desire to re-form Mahavishnu finally came to fruition. The group did not exactly reunite--the only other returning member was drummer Cobham--but the new version of the band carried on the musical spirit and vision of the original Orchestra. The 1980s edition of the band featured saxophonist Bill Evans, who had previously played with Miles Davis; former Pat Metheny drummer Danny Gottlieb; bassist Jonas Hellborg, and keyboardist Mitch Forman. The presence of Evans' sax and the absence of Ponty's violin distinguished the new Mahavishnu from the earlier version. McLaughlin's composing and guitar fireworks, however, provided continuity.

The third incarnation of the Mahavishnu Orchestra released an album called Mahavishnu in 1984. The last album to date recorded under the Mahavishnu name--Jim Beard on keyboards in place of Forman was the only lineup change--was Adventures in Radioland, released in 1987. Both albums took full advantage of the amazing advances in the technology of electronic music that had taken place during the previous decade. While he had long since removed Mahavishnu from his personal name, McLaughlin had no qualms about using it for the new band, since the music so clearly descended from that of the earlier versions.

Since 1987, McLaughlin has tended to focus primarily on acoustic music. He has toured as a duo with bassist Hellborg, written and performed orchestral works, and was briefly reunited with Miles Davis before Davis' death in 1992. McLaughlin has always been quick to explain that music is part of a spiritual voyage for him, whether attached to a particular religious sect or not. "My work in music is a work of the spirit; it's a development of my spirit, and the development of myself as a human being," he was quoted as saying in a 1985 Down Beat interview. "We don't know if there's a God, but if there is a God, I think music is the face of God." Many listeners would be delighted if McLaughlin's spiritual voyage happens to carry him in the direction of another Mahavishnu Orchestra along the way.
 
Mahavishnu Orchestra's Career

Band formed in 1971; original group released three albums; disbanded and second version formed, 1973; second version released three albums, before disbanding in 1976; third version formed in 1984, and released two albums.

Famous Works

Selective Works
The Inner Mounting Flame, Columbia, 1972.
Birds of Fire, Columbia, 1973.
Between Nothingness and Eternity, Columbia, 1973.
Apocalypse, Columbia, 1974.
Visions of the Emerald Beyond, Columbia, 1975.
Inner Worlds, Columbia, 1976.
Mahavishnu, Warner Bros., 1984.
Adventures in Radioland, Verve, 1987.

Further Reading

Books
Berendt, Joachim, The New Jazz Book, translated by Margenstern, et al., Lawrence Hill, 1975.
Sallins, James, ed., Jazz Guitars, Quill, 1984.
Periodicals Down Beat, March 1985; May 1991.
High Fidelity, January 1987.
Newsweek, March 27, 1972.
Rolling Stone, July 13, 1978.

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THE RTF STORY

Download music!: Return To Forever-Return To Forever; Return to Forever-Spain; 

RETURN TO FOREVER WHEN JAZZ BECAME ROCK

Miles Davis’ electric bands in the late ‘60s (featured on such classic albums as In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew) served as the incubator for several pioneering jazz fusion bands, including Tony Williams’ Lifetime, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter’s Weather Report and Chick Corea’s legendary Return to Forever, whose lifespan stretched from 1972 to 1977 with three different versions of the band.

After a touring absence of more than 25 years, the potent jazz-rock flagship quartet edition of Return to Forever returns in 2008. This highly anticipated reunion will see the group’s classic lineup—Corea on keyboards, Al Di Meola on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass and Lenny White on drums—embark on an expansive summer tour with dates in Europe and the United States.

A special Return to Forever anthology featuring remixed and remastered tracks from the classic albums Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known Before, No Mystery and Romantic Warrior will also be released to coincide with the tour. And a concert DVD could well be released, featuring the band revisiting the material from their years together.

After Corea left Miles’ employ, he helped found the avant-garde acoustic quartet Circle with saxophonist Anthony Braxton, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul. The band worked from 1970-’71, but Corea sought a new, less-esoteric direction where he could express his music to larger audiences—in a band committed to communicating the purity of sound, the challenge of improvising on complex compositions and the exploration of melding the jazz tradition with rock music. The time was ripe for what followed.

Return to Forever launched in 1972 with its self-titled debut featuring a quintet that Corea assembled, comprising Joe Farrell on flute and saxophone, Airto Moreira on drums and percussion, Flora Purim on vocals, and Stanley Clarke on bass—the only RTF member who served in all three editions of the band. With a Brazilian tinge imbued in the fusion, the first album featured such noteworthy tracks as “Sometime Ago,” “Crystal Silence” and “La Fiesta.” Later that year, the same RTF lineup delivered its follow-up, Light As a Feather, renowned as one of the band’s best recordings. Tunes included such Corea classics as “Spain,” “500 Miles High” and “Captain Marvel.”

In 1973, when Airto and Flora left RTF to start their own band and Farrell also took his leave, Corea enlisted a new lineup to explore a harder-edged rock-jazz fusion. The electric guitar was added, and placed front and center along with Corea on electric keyboards. The guitarist for the first of the four quartet albums, Hymn of Seventh Galaxy (1973), was Bill Connors, who soon left the band to pursue his solo career. He was replaced in 1974 by 19-year-old, fresh-from-college, hard-rocking Al Di Meola, who cut his eyeteeth in the band. He was featured on the remaining three quartet albums and proved to be an integral member of the band.

While drummer Steve Gadd was originally pegged to be in RTF, he opted out because he was unwilling to tour, and was replaced by funk-fueled Lenny White, who Corea knew from the Bitches Brew sessions. Clarke remained the bassist, developing during this time his singular electric bass style. This lineup is considered to be the golden RTF group, which recorded three popular crossover albums: 1974’s Where Have I Known Before (Di Meola’s debut), 1975’s Grammy-winning No Mystery and 1976’s studio finale, Romantic Warrior, which became the best selling of all RTF recordings.

For the third and final version of RTF, Clarke remained, Farrell returned, and drummer Gerry Brown and vocalist Gayle Moran were enlisted. In addition, Corea brought aboard a four-piece brass section. That group recorded the 1977 Musicmagic album and toured throughout the year, documented by the album R.T.F. Live.

It was RIP for RTF in 1977, but the group was resurrected once for a quartet concert in 1983, and is now fully returning in this year’s exciting reunion.

Source: http://www.return2forever.com/index.cfm/pk/content/pid/400296

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Return to Forever was the name of a jazz fusion band founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. The band cycled through many members, with only consistent band mate of Corea's bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever is often seen as the core of jazz fusion music in the 1970s. Several musicians, including Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola first became well-known through their performances on Return to Forever's albums.

After playing on Miles Davis's albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, Corea formed an avant-garde jazz band called Circle with Dave Holland, Anthony Braxton and Barry Altschul. However in 1972, after becoming a disciple of Scientology, Corea decided that he wanted to "communicate" with the audience. This essentially meant that he wanted to make more commercial music, since avant-garde jazz had a relatively small audience.

The first line-up (1972 - 1973)

The first Return to Forever band played latin-oriented music. The initial band consisted of singer (and occasional percussionist) Flora Purim, her husband Airto Moreira on drums and other percussion, Corea's longtime musical co-worker Joe Farrell on saxophone and flute, and the young bassist Stanley Clarke. Especially in this first line-up, Clarke played double bass in addition to electric bass. Corea's electric piano was the leading instrument in this group's sound, but Clarke and Farrell were also given plenty of solo space. Purim's vocal gave some commercial appeal for their music, but many compositions were instrumental and more or less experimental in their nature. The music was composed by Corea with the exception of the title track of the second album which was written by Stanley Clarke. Lyrics were often written by Corea's friend Neville Potter, and were often related to scientology, though this is not necessarily easy to recognize for outsiders. Clarke was involved in Scientology through Corea, but left the church in the early 1980s.

The first album, named simply Return to Forever, was cut for ECM Records in 1972 and was initially released only in Europe. This album featured Corea's famous compositions Crystal Silence and La Fiesta. Shortly afterwards, Corea, Airto, Clarke and Tony Williams formed the band for Stan Getz's album Captain Marvel (1972), which featured Corea's compositions including some from the first and second Return to Forever albums. The second album, Light as a Feather (1973), was released by Polydor and included the famous song, Spain.

The jazz-rock era (1973 - 1976)

After the second album, Farrell, Purim and Moreira left the group in order to set up their own band. Guitarist Bill Connors, drummer Steve Gadd and percussionist Mingo Lewis were taken on. However, Gadd was not willing to go touring and leave his job as a hard working studio drummer. Lenny White (who had played with Corea in Miles Davis's band) replaced Gadd and Lewis, and the group's third album, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973), was rerecorded. The first recording featuring Gadd was never released and is said to be missing.

The nature of the group's music had now completely changed to "jazz-rock", similar to what The Mahavishnu Orchestra and some progressive rock bands were doing at the same time. The music was still relatively melodic, relying on strong themes, but traditional jazz feel was almost completely gone. Distorted guitar had become prominent in the band's new sound, and Clarke played mostly electric bass. A new singer had not been hired, and all the songs were now instrumentals. This however, did not lead to a decrease in the band's commercial success - Return to Forever's jazz-rock albums always found their way to US pop album charts.

The second jazz-rock album, Where Have I Known You Before, (1974) was similar in style to the previous album, but Corea played synthesizers in addition to electric piano, and Clarke had developed his famous electric bass sound and style. Since Bill Connors had wanted to concentrate on his solo career, the group had also hired a new guitarist. Earl Klugh played guitar on some group's live performances but he was soon replaced by the 19 year old guitar wizard Al Di Meola, who played guitar on the album.

The next album, No Mystery (1975), was made with the same line-up as its predecessor, but the style of music was more varied. The first side of the record consisted mostly of jazz-funk, while the second side featured Corea's acoustic title track and a long composition that borrowed partly from Spanish music. On this and the following album, each member of the group composed at least one of the tracks. No Mystery won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group.

The last album by the most long-lasting lineup of Return to Forever was Romantic Warrior (1976). By this time the group had left Polydor for Columbia Records. The album became the best selling of all Return to Forever albums, eventually reaching gold disc status. This album continued experiments in the realm of jazz-rock and related genres, and is also famous for its technically demanding playing.

After "Romantic Warrior" and its subsequent tour, after signing a multi-million dollar contract with CBS and to the surprise of the rest of the band, Chick Corea decided to change the lineup of the group without White and di Meola.

The last album (1977)

The final version of Return to Forever featured a four piece horn section and Corea's wife Gayle singing vocals, and recorded just one studio album, Musicmagic (1977). The music had returned closer to the gentle feel of the music of the first line-up. However, instead of strong Latin influences, the last album features bombastic arrangements for horn section and synthesizers. Compositions remained relatively complex.

After Musicmagic, Chick Corea officially disbanded the group. Reasons are speculative, but Stanley Clarke's leaving the Church of Scientology is believed to be a factor. In the years following the breakup, Al di Meola commented on the complications of reuniting the di Meola/White lineup "I think we have a Scientology problem to deal with, possibly due to Stanley leaving Scientology. That doesn't sit very well with Chick."

In 1983 the White/Di Meola line up returned briefly on the stage, but did not record a new album, only one track issued on Corea's Touchstone album entitled "Compadres".

Reunion (2008)

Return to Forever reunited for a tour of the United States starting in summer 2008, and Europe in 2009. A special Return to Forever anthology set, featuring remixed and remastered tracks from the albums Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery, and Romantic Warrior, was be released to coincide with the tour.

Discography

Studio albums

Return to Forever (1972, ECM)
Light as a Feather (1972, Polydor)
Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973, Polydor)
Where Have I Known You Before (1974, Polydor)
No Mystery (1975, Polydor)
Romantic Warrior (1976, Columbia)
Musicmagic (1977, Columbia)

Live releases

Live (1977; later re-released in 1999 as Live: The Complete Concert)

Collections

Best of Return to Forever (1980)
Return to the Seventh Galaxy: The Anthology (1996, covers years 1972-1975)
This Is Jazz, Vol. 12 (1996, covers only last two albums)
Return to Forever: The Anthology (2008)

Personnel

Return to Forever Band Members(1972-1973) Chick Corea - keyboards
Flora Purim - vocals
Joe Farrell - saxophone
Stanley Clarke - bass
Airto Moreira - percussion
(1973) Chick Corea - keyboards
Bill Connors - guitar
Stanley Clarke - bass
Steve Gadd - drums
Mingo Lewis - percussion
(1973) Chick Corea - keyboards
Bill Connors - guitar
Stanley Clarke - bass
Lenny White - drums
(1974) Chick Corea - keyboards
Earl Klugh - guitar
Stanley Clarke - bass
Lenny White - drums
(1974-1976) Chick Corea - keyboards
Al Di Meola - guitar
Stanley Clarke - bass
Lenny White - drums
(1977) Chick Corea - keyboards
Gayle Moran - vocals, keyboards
Joe Farrell - saxophone
John Thomas - trumpet
James Tinsley - trumpet
Jim Pugh - trombone
Harold Garrett - trombone
Stanley Clarke - bass
Gerry Brown - drums
(1977) Chick Corea - keyboards
Gayle Moran - vocals, keyboards
Joe Farrell - saxophone
John Thomas - trumpet
James Tinsley - trumpet
Jim Pugh - trombone
Harold Garrett - trombone
Ron Moss - trombone
Stanley Clarke - bass
Gerry Brown - drums
(1977 - 1982) 
BAND SPLIT
(1983) Chick Corea - keyboards
Al Di Meola - guitar
Stanley Clarke - bass
Lenny White - drums
(1984 - 2007) 
BAND SPLIT
(2008) Chick Corea - keyboards
Al Di Meola - guitar
Stanley Clarke - bass
Lenny White - drums

References

a b Chick Corea left the group Return to Forever because of Scientology
Return to Forever reunites for 2008 trek

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SPYRO GYRA

History

Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band  that was originally formed in the mid-1970s in Buffalo, New York, USA. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the scene. Among their  most successful hit singles are "Shaker Song" and "Morning Dance". which received significant play on popular music radio stations, and are still frequently heard nearly 30 years later on jazz and easy listening stations.

Their music, which has been influential in the development of the smooth jazz, combines jazz with elements of R&B, funk and pop music. Although generally considered to be more "jazz" than "smooth". Syro Gyra have been praised as skilled instrumentalists and for their live performances, which average nearly 100 per year.

With the exeption of alto saxophonist, song writer and founding bandleader Jay Beckenstein and keyboardist Tom Schuman the personnel has changed somewhat over time as well as between the studio and the live stage.

Appearance on the Buffalo club sceneAppearance on the Buffalo club scene

Spyro Gyra emerged around Jay Beckenstein and keyboardist Jeremy Wall, who had met and formed a band during their high school years. Although they headed in different directions during college—Beckenstein to the State University of New York in Buffalo and Wall to Cal Arts—they spent summers together playing outdoor concerts, and Wall moved to Buffalo soon after graduating.

Beckenstein had been working in clubs in Buffalo since his junior year of college, backing various vocalists. Wall teamed up with Beckenstein, and the two started playing instrumental music—mostly covers of R&B songs—together. The other two musicians who were part of the nucleus were Buffalo natives Jim Kurzdorfer on bass and Tom Walsh on drums, although many people played in those early jam gatherings. An early regular on the Tuesday Night Jazz Jam scene was Buffalo percussionist Umbopha Emile Latimer. In Beckenstein's description of the Buffalo club scene of the time:
Not many people know it, but Buffalo was like a mini Chicago back then, with a smoking blues, soul, jazz, even rockabilly scene, of all things.

Over a year, their work evolved into Spyro Gyra. Wall has commented that their sound was a "gutbucket of rhythmic tradition. We did simple music and esoteric stuff. It all came together, this oddball mix, until we found a middle ground, our own groove".

The name Spyro Gyra is a misspelling of Spirogyra, a genus of green algae on which Beckenstein had written a college biology paper years earlier. He recalls:
Before a gig in a Buffalo club that was called Jack Daniels, the owner twisted my arm for a band name. As a joke, I remembered the paper and said, 'Spirogyra'. He misspelled it 'Spyro Gyra,' advertised it that way, and it stuck.

Breaking out of Buffalo

As the popularity of the group increased, the band played more places around town, becoming a regular at the Tralfamadore Cafe in its original location, in a basement under a non-descript storefront on Main Street. That led to more opening slots for national acts and performances in nearby cities, Rochester and Cleveland.

There were two main guitar players who appeared as part of the band around this time, Alfred "Fast Freddy" Rapillo (who would later go on to play for Rick James) and Rick Strauss. Tom Walsh had moved to California and the drum chair was alternately taken by Tom Duffy, Ted Reinhardt and others. Tom Schuman, who had been sitting in with the band since almost the beginning, when he was only sixteen, became a fixture in 1977 and the group had two keyboard players for a brief period until Jeremy Wall left the performing band in 1978.

The first eponymous album, self released in late 1977, reflected these personnel as well as some guests like Dave Samuels and Rubens Bassini, who would be part of Spyro Gyra recordings for years to come. That album attracted the attention of locally based Amherst Records, who then re-released the first album with new artwork. This debut album would go on to become one of Billboard's Top 40 Jazz Albums of 1978.

Bronx-born Gerardo Velez, who started his career with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock and would go on to play with many other artists and most recently as a member of Chic, became a regular around this time. He would gain fame with the early fans as Spyro Gyra's "dancing percussionist".

The follow-up recording, Morning Dance, financed by Amherst, made it possible to record part of the album in New York City and include more notable guests like John Tropea, Will Lee, Steve Jordan, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker and Suzanne Ciani. In the course of recording Morning Dance Eli Konikoff replaced Ted Reinhardt on drums and Freddy Rapillo returned to the group to replace Rick Strauss.

Late in 1978, prior to the release of the album, Rochester guitarist Chet Catallo replaced Freddy Rapillo in the band. The musical chairs of the revolving band membership, borne out of the jam scene beginnings of the band along with the appearance of guest musicians, set the template for the next few albums. The performing band became a standardized unit while the early recordings remained more of a collaboration of Jay Beckenstein, co-producer Richard Calandra and Jeremy Wall accompanied by some of the biggest names in the NYC jazz world.

The early albums

The March 1979 release of Morning Dance provided the group their breakthrough on the national and international scene. Through the efforts of Infinity Records, a New York City based start-up label owned by MCA Records, the group appeared in most major cities in the United States and many jazz festivals in Europe in 1979. That album would become a platinum seller due to the Top 40 pop hit of the same name, which would be a # 1 adult contemporary (AC) single, Billboard's #6 AC single of 1979.

Infinity Records folded by the end of the year and Spyro Gyra's follow-up record, Catching The Sun was released on MCA Records in February 1980 to similar success. Morning Dance became Billboard's #3 Jazz Album of 1980 and Catching the Sun was the #4 Jazz Album of 1980. Bass player Jim Kurzdorfer left the group in 1980 and was replaced by David Wofford. They released their next album Carnaval in late 1980. Both Catching The Sun and Carnaval were gold selling albums. Carnaval would become Billboard's # 7 Jazz Album of 1981.

Freetime, the group's fifth album, was released in 1981 and became the # 8 Jazz Album of 1982 as well as beginning their tradition of releasing a new album every year. 1982's Incognito represented a stylistic change in their artwork and featured Marcus Miller, Steve Gadd, Tom Scott, Richard Tee, Toots Thielemans and Jorge D'Alto as guests and would be Billboard's # 8 Jazz Album of 1983.

1983's City Kids, would be the last album using this producer centric approach, calling on famous session musicians to play in place of the full time band members. City Kids incorporated bass player Kim Stone, who would later go on to a long career with the Rippingtons.

1980s

1984 saw the release of the live Access All Areas, which would become Billboard's # 11 Jazz Album of 1984. AAA was the first album of Jay Beckenstein's new "band centric" approach to Spyro Gyra. It also introduced Dave Samuels as a full time member of the band. Eli Konikoff and Chet Catallo left the band just prior to its release to be replaced by Richie Morales and Julio Fernandez, respectively. It was this core unit that recorded 1985's Alternating Currents, which spurred the group's mid-80's resurgence with the hit "Shakedown".

Breakout, the 1986 follow-up, would be the first with Manolo Badrena as a full time member, replacing Gerardo Velez. Badrena was a veteran of Fusion titans Weather Report and a previous guest musician on Spyro Gyra's albums. Alternating Currents and Breakout would be among the top 15 Jazz Albums in Billboard in 1986. Longtime co-producer Richard Calandra passed away in October 1986 of pancreatic cancer.

1987 would see another personnel change within the band as Kim Stone left the band and the bass position was taken by Roberto Vally for the Stories Without Words album. Vally would go on to play with people like Michael Franks, Bobby Caldwell, Boney James, Boz Scaggs, Arturo Sandoval and Randy Crawford.

1988's Rites Of Summer album would be the first of the band's history without a percussionist, other than the drummer. It would also be the introduction of Oscar Cartaya, later to play with Herb Albert, Jennifer Lopez, Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Tito Puente, Robbie Robertson and Willie Colon. Both Stories Without Words and Rites Of Summer would be among Billboard's top 15 Contemporary Jazz Albums of 1988.

Point Of View would provide another turning point in 1989 for the band as Julio Fernandez left the band and was replaced by Jay Azzolina. It was also the first album in five years to have a guest musician, Roger Squitero on percussion. Julio Fernandez was also listed as a guest musician for one song.

Fast Forward would bring another new face into the band in 1990. Marc Quiñones would be with the band for two years and then go on to greater fame with The Allman Brothers Band. Fast Forward would be another #1 Contemporary Jazz Album for the band and one of Billboard's top 10 Contemporary Jazz Albums of 1990. Spyro Gyra would end the decade as Billboard's most successful jazz artist of the 1980s.

1990s-2000s

The 1990s provided the band with new challenges and a stable line-up for most of the decade. Guitarist Julio Fernandez rejoined the band for their 1991 Collection CD, a Best Of... which also featured two new songs. These two new songs on Collection marked the debut of drummer Joel Rosenblatt who had previously played with artists ranging from Michel Camilo to Pure Prairie League. The next CD, 1992's Three Wishes marked the debut of bassist Scott Ambush and completed what was to become the most long lived version of the band's core lineup in its history. Three Wishes was notable for its stripped down, more acoustic approach to the majority of the songs. The next CD, Dreams Beyond Control, was another about-face in the production approach which featured a large cast of supporting players and singers. Alex Ligertwood, of the Santana band, provided lead vocals, a "first" on a Spyro Gyra album. Also featured on this CD were the Tower Of Power horns, Howard Levy of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista, former member and now Allman Brothers band member Marc Quiñones and the NYC based No Sweat Horns. Despite being as well received as it was, this effort was swimming against the tide of the fashion made popular by the juggernaut that was Smooth Jazz radio in the 90's. The group made some effort to bridge that gap with their next release Love and other obsessions. This release featured two more traditional Smooth Jazz type vocals with guests Deniece Williams, Barrington Henderson, Billy Cliff and a host of other backing vocalists and musicians (which now included Dave Samuels who left the band to pursue his own Caribbean Jazz Project). The vocal tunes were an odd fit with the band's identity and this release marked the group's last flirtation with traditional R&B vocals. The instrumental "Ariana" from this album, did go on to become a #1 song at Smooth Jazz radio. The band's next release, Heart Of The Night, marked a conscious effort to produce a "themed" album of songs signifying the "moods of the night" from romantic to jumpin' at the club. The group's last studio album for GRP, 1997's 20/20 was named for its distinction of being the band's twentieth release in twenty years. This release was notable for its jazz version of James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" and for the Spyro Gyra debut of guest trumpeter Chris Botti. The band's last CD for GRP was 1998's live album, Road Scholars, the title being a sly nod to the band's history of twenty plus years of thousands of shows. This album was not as big a seller as the group's studio releases, but it began a critical reappraisal of the group's place in jazz history spurred by extended versions of familiar tunes, including the ten minute plus piano trio version of the group's first hit, "Shaker Song." The Nineties closed out with "Got The Magic," a single release on Windham Hill Jazz, a new effort of the venerable new age label to expand their identity into a Smooth Jazz realm. This album featured another #1 song at Smooth Jazz radio, "Silk and Satin," and a jazzy vocal by Basia Trzetrzelewska written by Jeff Beal and his wife Joan. Jeff had made his Spyro Gyra debut as a trumpeter and songwriter on 1990's "Fast Forward" and has been very busy with soundtrack work, including the HBO blockbuster Rome (TV series).

Discography

Spyro Gyra 1978 Infinity Records 
Morning Dance 1979 Infinity Records 
Catching The Sun 1980 MCA Records 
Carnaval 1980 MCA Records 
Freetime 1981 MCA Records 
Incognito 1982 MCA Records 
City Kids 1983 MCA Records 
Access All Areas (live) 1984 MCA Records 
Alternating Currents 1985 MCA Records 
Breakout 1986 MCA Records 
Stories Without Words 1987 MCA Records 
Rites of Summer 1988 MCA Records
Universal Music 
Point Of View 1989 GRP 
Fast Forward 1990 GRP 
Three Wishes 1992 GRP 
Dreams Beyond Control 1993 GRP 
Love And Other Obsessions 1994 GRP 
Heart Of The Night 1996 GRP 
20/20 1997 GRP 
Road Scholars (live) 1998 GRP 
Got The Magic 1999 Windham Hill Jazz 
In Modern Times 2001 Heads Up 
Original Cinema 2003 Heads Up 
The Deep End 2004 Heads Up 
Wrapped in a Dream 2006 Heads Up 
Good to Go-Go 2007 Heads Up 
A Night Before Christmas 2008 Heads Up

Awards and nominations

Spyro Gyra has received the following Grammy nominations:
1980: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "Catching the Sun"
1982: Best Rhythm & Blues Instrumental Performance for "Stripes"
1982: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "Incognito"
1983: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "City Kids"
1984: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "Access All Areas"
1985: Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Shakedown"
1985: Best Jazz Fusion Performance for "Alternating Currents"
2007: Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Wrapped in a Dream
2008: Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Simple Pleasures" from Good to Go-Go
2008: Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Good to Go-Go
2009: Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album for "A Night Before Christmas"
Spyro Gyra was awarded the George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards in 2007.

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