Stanley Clarke Talks About Return To Forever

[@sdgakatbk]

I'm in my mid 60's but what he's talking about is part of the reason the 70's is my favorite musical decade of the decades I've been alive.

[@johnayres2303]

Yep, same age and agree with you.

[@MegaCraptacular]

Same age and also agree. Surprised he didn't mention Herbie. Headhunters is amazing.

[@sdgakatbk]

@@MegaCraptacular Yeah I like Herbie Hancock and have some of his stuff including Headhunters. I also have Maiden Voyage.

[@coachhannah2403]

RTF, Weather Report, Frank Zappa, ELP, It's a Beautiful Day, etc., etc...

[@JazzManDean]

❤❤❤ the 1970’s was the best era for music without a doubt so happy to have lived it

[@MichaelMaxwell747]

Not only a great musician but a fantastic person!

[@travelinben1966]

Return to Forever “Enriching lives since 1972” 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@raulmacias1311]

Actually, Return To Forever was formed in 1971 after Chick disbanded his Agent Garde Combo "Circle". After Circle, Chick went on a solo tour performing on Acoustic Piano the ECM Label. In April, 1971 Corea recorded Piano Improvisations Vol.1 and Piano Improvisations Vol. 2. Chick then formed Return To Forever and they debuted at the Village Vanguard in late October,1971. The line up was ~ RETURN TO FOREVER FEATURING CHICK COREA ~ Chick Corea ~ Electric Piano Stan Clarke ~ Bass Hubert Laws ~ Flute Flora Purim ~ Vocal Horacee Arnold ~ Drums Airto Moreira ~ Percussion Sadly, this line up never recorded.

[@amsedelm]

Like The Beatles, a band for the ages. Saw them at The Beacon Theater on The Romantic Warrior Tour. Sold out two nights. What a time.

[@mobass48]

I was there as well., May of 1976 on a Sunday evening.... Changed me forever!

[@raffen79]

Stanley Clarke is my hero! I'm off to Vulcan!

[@Jiv_Ing57819]

You go 2 vulcan make sure you bring a key for the empror n he will let you in ,: 0

[@airfiero4772]

Stanley Clarke…simply amazing. Return to Forever, solo material… also look up his pop band Animal Logic. Great stuff!

[@vintagemusiccollection904]

Yep, I have their Stuff......

[@pdofak]

Ha. That's fun to hear. I have a comment toward the "heard it by word of mouth" part. I was in Denver going to school back then and I went to a Renaissance show. Second billings were Taj Mahal and Al Dimeola. Al was the reason I went of course. In the crowd around me I heard a ton of, "So who is this Al Dimeola guy?" I just rubbed my hands together thinking, You'll see, heh heh. Sure enough, Afterward, I heard a ton of the crowd going off about how incredible that Al Dimeola guy was. Fun stuff.

[@sdgakatbk]

That sounds like a killer show!! Someone I knew in the Navy in the 70s told me he went to a show I think to see Alvin Lee and Company in Ten Years After. He left the show a ZZ Top fan who was on the bill.

[@darylcadman2863]

The vinal.... The Clarke Duke Project.... Man did I love that record

[@hubbsllc]

Lots of goodness on that record.

[@asrealasrain]

Weather Report had Wayne Shorter co-leading, I wonder why Joe Farrell didn't continue with RTF? One of the all-time great Jazz improvisers. Stanley was Hendrix on Bass, check that early RTF footage!

[@trickiewoowoo]

"SORCERESS" - the ULTIMATE RTF jam!!!!!!!!!!

[@MrGTO-ze7vb]

Fantastic interview... Did anybody see RTF play in Huntington or Northport NY in 1976?

[@joselares9031]

Stunning review...¡¡¡ YEAH...

[@ikkenhisatsu7170]

RTF were so great - especially (for me) that lineup. I still love fusion, and Stanley Clark is a legend, along with the other members.

[@ironrainband]

One of the Greats. Good wishes always Stanley!

[@Cantbuyathrill]

Shere the hell were they for this interview? Joe's Diner? Port Authority terminal? Backgroundnoise Central?

[@deepkeel65]

He might also have mentioned Jean Luc Ponty, with whom he played. Another "fusion" genius.

[@WELLBRAN]

Did not mention george duke

[@darylcadman2863]

Ponti...... Remember Emaginery Voyage on vinal. Man did I love that

[@contextmatters8243]

Interesting... I 1st saw RTF @ the Beacon theater on the Westside of NYC... about '76. The played pieces from "Romantic Warrior" (which I consider one of the greatest albums in my generation along with "The Keys of Life") 😳 They came on stage with dress like they had left the collge dorm and they JAMMED But What really stood out to me was THEY WERE HAVING FUN...😎 I grew up on Jazz, starting with Yardbird (I was an Alto player) and witnessed the evolution of music but was caught totally off guard...🤯 So much so, I couldn't even talk for all the hollering and screaming throughout the concert..😁 I even took my g/f when there was a transit strike (she was into Rock and we met in the middle with R&B..) 🤔 We WALKED from Brooklyn to the Westside... Needless to say..she thanked me later. 😎

[@Wharfomatic]

"Hymn of the 7th Galaxy"

[@hgaleano96galeano52]

For those of you referring to " head hunters" as far as i know head hunters was the name of an album. Head hunters is not a group. Head hunters is an acclaimed and influential album by herbie hancock

[@MrTrueseventh]

Head Hunters was also the name of Herbie's band at that time ( the 70's) .

[@nigelmiller5609]

www.discogs.com/artist/21399-The-Headhunters

[@gebass6479]

Yes! There never was 'Herbie Hancock AND THE HEADHUNTERS" The albums name was "Headhunters".

[@bobanbu]

LOVE Stanley, who I first saw playing w Gato Barbieri at 19 when no one knew who he was.. but to keep it real .. so as per Stanley's comments starting @ 1:24, that would place Stanley as one of THE main instigators of the watering down of the original fusion bands as he broke off from one of the original 4, and for monetary reasons, to form his own group, w Ray Gomez, which also was one of the main ones perpetuators of extension over playing, flaunting speed chops above musicality, that led to people tiring of the genre itself.

[@vicmatthias4515]

My very first RTF album, stayed with them Stanley is RIGHT

[@mjestoist]

Herbie Hancock Mwandishi also played until 1973, and later on Eddie Henderson records.

[@ganimede1054]

he also forgot about brand-x...

[@fusionfan6883]

I love the band although they were part of the second wave you could say.

[@keithmccaslyn2527]

Jimi Hendrix and the Experience and with the Band of Gypsy's created a combination of Rock/Soul/Blues/Jazz...ala Wes Mongontgomery influcene. Lenney White, expressed much regret that He/The Jazzer's turned thier noses up on Jimi and turned away from him. I Love RTF,at least,Lenny expressed such and ackknowledged it. Saw RTF in the mid-70's,only once but man oh man....awesome would be an understatement!! Play on Dudes,play on !!

[@pablostraub]

Alas, there was so much noise I could barely follow the interview. Any sound engineer around?

[@raulmacias1311]

The greatest exponents of Jazz/Rock 1971 ~ 1973 ~ Weather Report Mwandishi featuring Herbie Hancock The Mahavishnu Orchestra With John McLaughlin Return To Forever featuring Chick Corea

[@rhmayer1]

Brian Auger and the Oblivion Express The Fourth Way Soft Machine The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood Jukka Tolonen

[@raulmacias1311]

@@rhmayer1 Bill Connors was a member of John Handy's "The Fourth Way" before joining Return To Forever featuring Chick Corea.

[@johnroscoe8045]

Jeff Lorber's band should also be included in the mix. Weather Report, and Return to Forever, we're my top two fusion bands.

[@hubbsllc]

I consider WR, MO, RTF, and Tony WIlliams Lifetime to be the "core" that grew straight out of Miles Davis.

[@44thenazz]

Have to throw in Herbie and his Headhunters too.

[@hubbsllc]

OK, I didn't realize that Tony Williams Lifetime kind of preceded fusion-era Miles.

[@optimus163]

late 60s Lifetime with McLaughlin and Larry Young. Stanley was in a short lived 1972 version . There were several versions of Lifetime thru the 70s incl The New Tony Williams Lifetime w/ Pasqua, Holdsworth and Newton.

[@blucheer8743]

Jack Bruce played with lifetime also McLaughlin really hadn’t found his sound yet and the band seemed all over the place but jack n tony pretty spectacular+ Larry young and John soloing pretty sweet!

[@mjestoist]

On the second album weather report did have guitar player on one song...

[@bholaoates1542]

Yep, and then on their final album Carlos Santana guested on some tunes.

[@silkyrobinson5079]

I surely thought he would mention Billy Cobham, George Duke, and Brand x, but mabey Stanley was speaking of right before that.

[@Dahkkloudmusic]

hey what was the song at the start. i love that one but ive totally forgotten the name

[@TheJazzcritic]

space circus

[@bholaoates1542]

@@TheJazzcritic No, it was the title track from the first *electric* Return to Forever album, Hymn of the 7th Galaxy.

[@WilliamSmith-hz2jl]

Hymn to the 7th galaxy 🎶💪🏿👌🏾👍🏽

[@Oneness100]

Here's a few nuggets of information. Stanley was almost the original bass player for Mahavishnu. Jaco Pastorious was almost the bassist for the 2nd Mahavishnu. Billy Cobham almost was with Weather Report after MO broke up…..

[@silkyrobinson5079]

How do you know?

[@Oneness100]

@@silkyrobinson5079These were all said in various interviews.

[@mrgone7613]

@@silkyrobinson5079 he made it up.

[@mrgone7613]

This makes no sense. In 1974,when the 1st MO split Pastorius was teaching in Miami and was unknown. Billy Cobham was the "hot ticket' after MO and had released Spectrum, why would he consider "almost' being a sideman in a band that had previously rejected him and that he was probably outselling at that point?

[@Oneness100]

@@mrgone7613 Huh? I don't think you have an accurate assessment of the situation. Who are you talking about? Why would WHO consider being a sideman in a band that previously rejected him?

[@popeyesailor9571]

Maybe Larry Coryell band?!?!?!

[@s.w.3604]

I thought the same thing! My fav version of S.C.'s "School Days" is the live version with Coryell on guitar: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3PZY6ynq8ypmMk

[@optimus163]

He mentioned Larry Coryell when he spoke of the other 4 groups early on. oh geez your comment is 2 yrs old !

[@WELLBRAN]

Larry Coryell was the one that started it

[@JustforFun-ki6fk]

Where was this interview ? And who interviewed stanley ?

[@Guidotoons101]

What I dug about RTF, more so than other bands he mentioned, was their songs. They had the best compositions of the four. When I saw them tour Romantic Warrior in 1976 they were a FORCE! But after seeing both reunions of 2008 and 2011 (Bill Connors pussed out and we were subjected to Gambale and Ponty's squeaky, noisy crap instead in 2011) I saw four or five well known and seasoned jazz solo artists noodling and trying to either crack each other up or "cut" the other players. There was no cohesiveness and I came away disappointed. The shows were alright, but I would have preferred they stayed closer to the original killer compositions. My .02. Your opinion may differ. And I won't care. :P

[@ChrisDragotta]

What about Todd Rudgren's Utopia? The early stuff is "fusion".

[@optimus163]

Todd's styles were all over the place so you cant really include him in the evolution of Jazz to Jazz Rock to Jazz Fusion.

[@chrischoir3594]

Frank Zappa was the first Jazz Fusion artist

[@chrischoir3594]

@d nuzzio King Kong was one of the first fusion records. It may have been the first

[@trudywretched]

So many things i wish I could ask him.. I would've asked him for more about the way KZbin has changed the audience

[@dadduorp]

It’s a shame some of these cats are estranged from each other. They could be creating and giving the world so much more as well as benefiting themselves financially.

[@Wally-H]

Sadly, the very genius that sets them apart as musicians is the same character trait that can make them very difficult to work with. You get a number of musicians with difficult personalities and try to put them together, and it usually ends in trouble somewhere down the line.

[@camtron]

@ajdicks you're so wrong. Miles yes, but everyone else after him. No.

[@chad969]

Damn for a second I thought this was Stanley Hudson from The Office talking about Return to forever

[@pongnose]

I'd say Headhunters are regarded more as funk than jazz rock fusion.

[@arthurmee]

I like to call it jazz/funk fusion

[@stephenmuth1425]

You'd be wrong. Their big hit made the "funk" charts, but the album (which is what everyone listened to back then) had plenty of improv and sophisticated progressions to EASILY qualify it as jazzrock fusion.

[@ericwalker8775]

Pando jazz funk fusion.

[@ericwalker8775]

More like,sophisticated funk.

[@jamesmckellar4026]

subtle dig at DiMeola, maybe not so subtle

[@alberthaust4542]

I read an Al Di Meola interview, and he said he's not a very good Jazz musician (I don't remember his exact words). Jazz-jazz, isn't the direction Di Meola went, I believe this is fine, because there are many Jazz guitarists, but nobody who plays the kind of music Di Meola plays. I'm a big fan of Di Meola's music, but I wouldn't want to hear him jam with somebody such as Keith Jarrett.

[@ronniefarnsworth6465]

Lol Must of been Rolling Stone Mag who made fun of you guys !! They hated all Great Bands !! Lol Rush, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Yes etc and many more They knew Nothing the Trash Rag !!

[@Oneness100]

RS didn't make fun of fusion bands. Have you ever read a RS magazine from the 70's? RS now is nothing like RS from the 70's.. RS now is garbage, FTMP.

[@ronniefarnsworth6465]

@@Oneness100 ??? Yes this was my time late 60s to 70s. ost of the writers in RS couldn't stand any band with Chops !!

[@ronniefarnsworth6465]

I was a Huge Mahavishnu Orchestra fan and they crapped all over their 1st album !! But I must admit I didn't read them that much after a few years of this !! In RS mind Aerosmith was better than Yes or Classic Genesis !!! : o Lol

[@Oneness100]

@@ronniefarnsworth6465 I don't remember them panning MO's first album. My older brother had a subscription for RS. yeah, I don't think many people even understood Mahavishnu. I sure didn't when I was 13. But I still liked it and was addicted to their music for a solid 3 years as that's all I would listen to as I was trying to figure it all out and be able to cop Billy's playing. He was my all time idol drummer for many years. I put him on a pedestal about 10 notches above everyone else because he was so insane to watch and listen to.. :-) I did take some lessons from Narada for about 6 months around '78 or so right when he started doing the disco stuff, but I would tell him to put more fusion stuff out, but his record label was pushing him into pop stuff because it paid the bills, but he tried to put at least a couple of more fusion stuff on each album, but he called it rope a dope and I could tell he wasn't thrilled about doing it, but he had to make a life changing decision. He wanted to do more stuff with Jeff Beck, but Beck was too busy with fixing his cars he didn't really tour much for a while. I think there was a falling out between the two over the Wired album.

[@Oneness100]

@@ronniefarnsworth6465 Probably over their head. I do remember reading an article on MO, but it was a really small piece. I remember they liked MO, it wasn't really a bad review, it was more about them playing concerts rather than an album review. I never listen to reviewers of albums. Only a few of them know what they are talking about. Down Beat had a love/hate relationship with MO since Down Beat was hard core jazz crowd and MO wasn't jazz enough for them…. I just wish the original band stuck it out for at least 2 more years as they were JUST on the verge of getting used to each other, and the new found gear. AFAIC, Yamaha fucked up the entire music industry when that pile of shit DX7 came out. They sold the crap out of it, but I though it was cheesy sounding. Then all of sudden most of the fusion bands started sounding like fusion meets Muzak. I think was the third wave of fusion was just too contrived, too slick, too produced for my taste. McLaughlin kept things together when he hooked up with Trilok Gurtu. Zawinul kept things together with Syndicate and I actually prefer, in some ways, Syndicate over Weather Report. Weather Report was great, but they started to get weird after Jaco left. I actually didn't care much for Erskine, he was too soft of a player for Weather Report. Eleventh House was interesting, but I think the sound of the band was horrible. I don't know why. All great players.

[@s.w.3604]

*Maybe* you can include Larry Coryell's band in there..? WTF? kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHuygXRjpN2mZ5Y

[@optimus163]

He did

[@micknordstrom2591]

This os more prog jazz rock than trad fusion.

[@keithmccaslyn2527]

Frank Zappa '71 thru '75...

[@monsterjazzlicks]

Stanley Clarke is one of the most obnoxious big-heads I have ever met!

[@Cantbuyathrill]

Stanley, what you RTF guys played was NOT jazz, but jazz fussion. as good as it was. But still NOT jazz per se.

[@mario4everd]

...are you kidding me? XD Jazz fusion is jazz, it's like saying power metal isn't metal. It has huge fundamentals of jazz chords/inspiration but mixed with other genres to create more variety. You can't play jazz fusion easily unless you understand older jazz styles. Jazz fusion honestly just tends to be more open minded to sounds than typical jazz. Not bound by only traditional acoustic instruments but still having the same complex chord voicings and structure. It honestly just felt like an evolution of what the bebop players left off on. There is still heavy improvisation and complexity within the genre. If anything great jazz fusion requires a lot depending on what genres you are fusing with that jazz edge. You have to know different styles to mix it within the music, but still making it sound authentic, like how herbie mixed a lot of heavy funk ideas and rhythms within his jazz style, and the ability to weave between different styles and playing sometimes during one tune. That's what makes it really fun to listen to.