CD review: John Beasley & Frankfurt Radio Big Band – Returning To Forever – 2024: Full concert video, CD cover

Return To Forever, led by the legendary Chick Corea and featuring bassist Stanley Clarke, was one of the great fusion bands of the 1970s.

The group evolved through three distinct phases: the Brazilian fusion group with vocalist Flora Purim, percussionist Airto, and reed/flute player Joe Farrell; the rock-influenced quartet with drummer Lenny White and either guitarist Bill Connors or Al DiMeola; and a later ensemble with six horns, drummer Gerry Brown, and Corea’s wife, singer Gayle Moran.

In 2019, pianist/keyboardist, arranger, composer, conductor, record producer, music director, and educator John Beasley embarked on an ambitious project: reimagining Return To Forever’s music for the GRAMMY®-nominated Frankfurt Radio Big Band (hr-Bigband.) While some of Corea’s pieces (and Clarke’s “Vulcan Worlds”) have been performed in various ways over the years, they had never been adapted for a large jazz orchestra at this level. Due to the COVID pandemic, the music was not recorded until 2023, and is now being released as Returning To Forever.

Before starting the project, Beasley reached out to Corea for his blessing. “Chick gave me his blessings and offered his original handwritten charts. He asked me to share my arrangements with him. I was amazed by how open-minded he was,” says Beasley. He wrote four arrangements, but before he could send them, the world learned of Corea’s passing on February 9th, 2021.

Beasley preserved each chosen song’s form, theme, and essence while making the pieces sound like a natural fit for a big band. Starting with the excitement of Captain Señor Mouse, Returning To Forever includes exhilarating transformations of Space Circus, No Mystery, the funky Vulcan Worlds (with the horns playing transcriptions of Corea’s keyboard solos), the passionate Medieval Overture, the lyrical ballad You’re Everything which also includes La Fiesta, and the episodic Return To Forever.

1. Captain Senor Mouse
2. Space Circus
3. No Mystery
4. Vulcan Worlds
5. Medieval Overture
6. You’re Everything / La Fiesta
7. Return to Forever