Medieval Overture – 1976
Return To Forever
A joyful exploration by one of the premiere fusion bands
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Chick Corea led three different versions of Return To Forever: a Brazilian fusion group with Flora Purim (1972-73), a small short-lived big band (1977) and his most famous group, the rockish quartet (1973-76).
The latter ensemble teamed Corea’s electric keyboardist with bassist Stanley Clarke, drummer Lenny White, and guitarist Bill Connors who was succeeded after the first album by Al DiMeola.
The Corea-DiMeola-Clarke-White version of RTF was extremely popular while it lasted.
“Medieval Overture” was recorded for that version of RTF’s last album, Romantic Warrior.
On this live performance, one can see the joy of creating the music on Corea’s face as he clearly has a great time, ironically only a short time before Return To Forever broke up.
-Scott Yanow
