Super-Fusion Group Return To Forever returns with Doubleheader From Eagle Rock Entertainment

SUPERSTAR JAZZ-ROCK FUSION BAND
RETURN TO FOREVER
RELEASES DYNAMIC DOUBLEHEADER WITH
EAGLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT

2-CD Live Return to Forever Returns and DVD Live at Montreux
Documents Historic 25th Year Reunion

RTF Returns CD Released March 17
Live at Montreux on DVD and Blue-Ray May 12

In
last year’s DownBeat cover story on the reunion of Return to Forever,
the headline exclaimed,” “They’re Back!” Indeed, the group-keyboardist
Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Al Di Meola and drummer
Lenny White who comprised the most potent version of RTF-literally
returned to forever as it played throughout North America and Europe in
celebration of its first tour in 25 years. Crowds enthusiastically
flocked to the 54 concerts – the highlight of the 2008 jazz touring
season – and were treated to vibrant displays of high-energy jazz
fusion at its best. This fervent reuniting is captured on two
superlative historical documents from Eagle Rock Entertainment: the
two-CD Return to Forever Returns, to be released March 17, and the DVD
and Blu-Ray disc Return to Forever Live at Montreux, to be released May
12.

Returns
features RTF in three settings: Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL
(July 31, 2008); at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston (August 6,
2008); and the Stravinski Auditorium at the Montreux Jazz Festival
(July 18, 2008). The Montreux show yielded the epic-length song “500
Miles High,” featured on CD2 as one of two bonus tracks. The other
bonus is a live performance of “Romantic Warrior” recorded by the BBC
when the legendary producer Sir George Martin presented RTF with the
BBC’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The RTF
tour date in Clearwater features the full-band tunes “Opening Prayer,”
“Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy,” “Vulcan Worlds,” “Sorceress,” “Song to
the Pharaoh Kings” and “No Mystery” on CD1 and “Romantic Warrior” on CD2. Also featured in that show are band member solos and duets:

Di Meola solos: “Passion Grace & Fire,” “Mediterranean Sundance,” “Café 1930” (CD1)
Di Meola duets with Corea: “Children’s Song #3,” “Spain” (CD1)
Corea solo: “Friendship,” including “Solar” (CD2)
Clarke solo: “El Bayo de Negro” (CD2)
White solo: “Lineage” (CD2)

The
RTF opus “Duel of the Jester & the Tyrant” was recorded in Boston.
Writing in the liner notes of Returns, Russ Davis says, “What makes the
live recordings so remarkable is that they are at once nostalgic and
yet so full of the 21st century. The songs, so
familiar to fans of early RTF, have been transformed into new pieces of
art. What was then is also now, as fans who originally experienced the
music are treated with new sensations and realizations. RTF returned,
and the art the band created anew is then-and-now forever-timeless and
a part of all of us for all time.”

rtf cover

Commenting
in DownBeat on the rehearsals before RTF launched its tour in Austin,
Texas, Michael Point wrote: “The camaraderie of the veteran musicians
was so natural that it seemed logical to suppose the band had been together, not apart, for more than 30 years.”

Point
quoted Corea before the tour began: “So much of the music is like
returning home again. There are so many emotions going on, and right
now it’s hard sometimes to concentrate on the music. Then playing the
music with the band again unleashes another torrent of memories and
emotions. There’s a whole lot more happening here other than just a
tour.”

The
U.S. shows captured on Return to Forever Returns were played before
rowdy, raucous crowds-more like rock concerts than intimate jazz
affairs. The Montreux show was decidedly different, with less rock and
more of a jazz fusion feel. This is documented on the visual treat
Return to Forever Live at Montreux.. The footage from this show is very
special. It’s beautifully shot with HD cameras, with special care taken
when mixed and edited. Live at Montreux features the RTF show at the
Montreux Jazz Festival in its entirety.

After the tour concluded in early September 2008, Corea reflected on the RTF reunion in his chickcorea.com
Web site blog: “It was quite a thrill renewing the RTF experience and
refreshingly surprising to see how well remembered the band was to all
the audiences we played for…It was very heartening to me to see such
enthusiastic responses for the edgy, instrumental music we
played-especially since there was no recording released in all these
years, no performances and no record company support of any kind. The
whole experience was just live, with the band and the audience-no need
for extra hype. It confirmed for me the truth and importance of the
primary and direct communication right from the artists to their
audiences. I guess this is a fixture of life: People love to entertain
and be entertained. And the simplest, straightest way to have that
pleasure is ‘live.’ As an added thought: in jazz, the most real and
exciting performances that exist on record are the live recordings-no
editing or ‘fixing up’ -just the untouched moment of creation.”

For
RTF fans who weren’t able to attend a concert on the band’s grand tour,
they have the next-best opportunity to savor the reunion: a live
recording (Return to Forever Returns) and a you-are-there video (Return
to Forever Live at Montreux). Tyrant” was recorded in Boston. Writing
in the liner notes of Returns, Russ Davis says, “What makes the live
recordings so remarkable is that they are at once nostalgic and yet so
full of the 21st century. The songs, so familiar to fans of early RTF,
have been transformed into new pieces of art. What was then is also
now, as fans who originally experienced the music are treated with new
sensations and realizations. RTF returned, and the art the band created
anew is then-and-now forever-timeless and a part of all of us for all
time.”