anthologysd.com

By Steve Siegel | THE MORNING CALL

Chick Corea is a musical omnivore. From avant-garde to bebop, from children’s songs to hard-hitting fusion and frequent forays into the classical, the multiple Grammy Award-wining jazz artist has touched an astonishing number of musical bases.

He’s equally at home acoustic or plugged-in, doing solo gigs or richly arranged collaborations with orchestras. Whether he plays in duos, trios or quartets, his restless creativity and imagination soars.

Following last year’s celebrated reunion tour of his fusion supergroup Return to Forever, Corea opens Zoellner Art Center’s 2009-2010 season tonight with two of his original Return to Forever soul mates, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White.

Return to Forever is often seen as the core of jazz fusion music in the 1970s, steeped in Miles Davis‘ potent brew of free jazz mixed with a rock-style backbeat, anchored by electronic keyboards and dense percussion.

Corea, who had played keyboards with Davis — replacing Herbie Hancock in 1968 — formed the group in 1972 with Clarke and White, another Davis alumnus. Guitarist Bill Connors, who was replaced after a year by Al DiMeola, rounded out the quartet.

Return to Forever was a showcase for each member’s strong musical personality. The band’s songs were distinctively melodic, due to the Corea’s composing style and the bass-playing style of Clarke, who pioneered the percussive slap funk technique, adapting it to complex jazz harmonies.

Clarke became the first bassist in history to headline tours, has won multiple Grammys and Emmys, and is one of the most influential electric bassists of the 1970s.

White’s musical baptism was as percussionist on Davis’ landmark fusion album ”Bitch’s Brew,” as well as trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s seminal recording ”Red Clay.” He is known for his intensity and relentless pursuit of rhythm, often playing with a cheekiness that enhances the entire performance.

Corea, Clarke and White first performed as a trio in 1973, at the Keystone Korner club in San Francisco, before Return to Forever had hit its stride. Corea, 67, spoke about the trio and some future plans in a phone interview.

Q: Now that Al DiMeola has left the Return to Forever tour, are there any future plans to continue as a quartet?

A: We’re still planning that, and in fact on this tour we’re going to have some friends sit in with us as it happens. Billy Connors is going to join us a couple of times — we’ve hooked up with him again. Jean Luc-Ponte is also going to play with us a bit. We’ll kick it off at the Hollywood Bowl [this week] with Connors, Ponte, Chaka Kahn and John Scofield.

Q: Last year’s Return to Forever concerts were billed as an anthology tour. Will the current trio look back even further?

A: You know, we’re going to let it be an open slate, which is the way we used to play music back in the old days, rather than plan it too heavily. We’re going to kind of let the creative juices flow. We’ll have a few rehearsals to put some basic stuff together, but from there we’ll see where the muse takes us.

Q: Can you do stuff, like, say, ”Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy,” as a trio?

A: Hey, that’s jumping ahead of the muse (laughs). But sure, we can delve into the Return to Forever repertoire — I want to try things from the first two Return to Forever albums, with Flora Purim and Airto Moreira. Some of Stanley’s compositions are really nice from those recordings. But what we play depends on the process — as you know, anything might happen, man!

Q: Have you been attracting a newer audience in addition to Return to Forever diehards?

A: It varies so much night-to-night. Older faces usually turn up, those who have heard the band before — that’s always nice to see. But it looks to me like concert goers these days are usually younger. Of course, at my age, everyone looks younger (laughs).

Q: Return to Forever concerts had two sets, an electric and an acoustic. Are you planning the same for the trio?

A: Again, I’m not sure. I know we’re going to have all the instruments available. I’m going to bring some digital instruments, my Fender Rhodes and various synths, but there’ll also be a 9-foot grand. Stanley’s definitely going to play acoustic bass, but he’ll have his electrics. We’re going to scale down the sound to tighten it up a bit more, to make it more of a jazzy kind of music, you know?

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

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Corea, Clarke, & White will perform 6 shows over 3 dates at Anthology in San Diego - September 9, 10 & 11. Click here for tickets.

By George Varga, Pop Music Critic | SignOnSanDiego.com

It’s a sad reality that far too many concert tours skip San Diego in favor of Los Angeles. But there can be advantages to being perceived, however inaccurately, as a very distant L.A. suburb or (as some still quaintly put it) “a sleepy little Navy town.”
Case in point: jazz-fusion luminaries Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, who performed last night at the just under-18,000-capacity Hollywood Bowl. The top ticket price was $126, though you could sit on a wooden bench in the last row (seemingly a quarter of a mile from the stage) for just $1 a ticket.

Corea, Clarke and White perform here next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night at downtown’s all-ages Anthology (anthologysd.com), which has a seating capacity of 250. The top ticket price is $85, which is still steep. But the opportunity to catch this talent-rich band in such an intimate setting, rather than watch them through binoculars at the Hollywood Bowl, is a welcome one.

Keyboardist Corea and bassist Clarke are, of course, two of the four co-founders of Return To Forever (RTF), the pioneering fusion jazz band that was launched not long after Corea’s tenure with Miles Davis ended in the early 1970s. White, RTF’s second and best-known drummer, first recorded with Corea 40 years ago. Both were featured on Davis’ epic 1969 double-album, “Bitches Brew,” which — 28 years later — profoundly inspired the members of England’s Radiohead as they made their 1997 art-rock masterpiece, “OK Computer. ”

I first heard Clarke on two splendid 1972 albums, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers‘ “Child’s Dance” and Stan Getz’s “Captain Marvel.” Barely 21 at the time, he played with such fire, sensitivity and skill he seemed to have already nearly mastered his instrument.

Corea, Clarke and White re-teamed last year with RTF guitarist Al DiMeola for a sold-out reunion tour that, sadly, skipped San Diego. Yet, not having the high-velocity DiMeola here at Anthology might be a plus, since it will allow his RTF band mates to explore an even broader palette of acoustic and electric music.

The trio’s repertoire at Anthology will feature selections from various RTF albums, retooled jazz standards, new music and a surprise or two. Those surprises will almost certainly not include cameos by Chaka Khan, Jean Luc Ponty or original RTF guitarist Bill Connors, who were all scheduled to guest at last night’s Hollywood Bowl gig.

But no matter. Because when Corea, Clarke and White are in sync on stage, there are more than enough musical treats to go around.

Virtuoso guitarist hitting the road with World Sinfonia

Virtuoso guitarist Al Di Meola will be performing at Anthology, February 3 as part of his national tour and new album release with his new project, Al Di Meola and World Sinfonia. Joining a handpicked group of master musicians for both the tour and album, Di Meola makes a surprising turn into the romantic, producing a collection of moving tango-flavored melodies. Their work is on display on ‘La Melodia Live In Milano,’ available in America for the first time and releases on January 8, 2009, just days before the tour starts. The album features two songs by tango master Astor Piazzolla, for whom Di Meola admits he has been “carrying a torch” his entire career, as well as one each from Ennio Morricone and Andrea Parodi, and four by Di Meola himself.

This shift in tone is perfectly natural for Di Meola. “Although the tango developed in Argentina, it was born in the region of Italy where my parents are from, Napoli,” he explains. “This music connects to my roots. As long as I’m playing music, it will be part of my repertoire.” No wonder, then, that World Sinfonia’s music sounds so effortless: it’s in his blood.

As a member of groundbreaking jazz-fusion group Return to Forever starting in the 1970s, and in his solo work since, Di Meola earned a reputation for being technically brilliant with unbelievable chops. For the past several years, however, he has been spent as much time composing for chamber orchestras in Europe as creating blazing guitar solos. With World Sinfonia, Di Meola moves his audience with the range of emotions in his music, rather than simply blowing them away with his technique.

Website: www.AlDiMeola.com

Show details:

Al DiMeola will perform on Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $39 and are available at the Anthology Box Office, by calling 619.595.0300 and at www.AnthologySD.com.

Anthology is located at 1337 India Street (between A and Ash Streets).