John Beasley / Frankfurt Radio Big Band – ‘Returning To Forever’

I must confess that I came to this album with a good deal of positive bias. Chick Corea’s output in the early-to-mid 1970s was a formative part of my musical education and those classic LP records, the Light as a Feather and Return to Forever were, and still are, seen as culturally important, exciting, innovative step-changes in the development of jazz. The group of musicians I was part of at that time were less keen on the more electric Rock-oriented, fusion oeuvre of say, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy and Where Have I Known You Before but that was our problem; it was all immensely popular and Chick’s UK gigs always sold out, irrespective of the repertoire.

Fans of the Return to Forever projects will love this recently released recording as both the score and the musicianship are as superb as we’d expect from top American arranger John Beasley and the peerless Frankfurt Radio Big Band.

Also known as the hr-Bigband, what a Big Band they are! The gorgeous section playing, a pleasure in itself, once again sets the scene here for the wonderfully well-crafted solos. The world-class reputation of the German and other European Radio Big Bands has been established over a number of years and is a huge credit to the Musical Directors, Arts Administrators and funding bodies who ensure that jazz music for the larger ensemble continues to evolve and flourish as an art form. Without them, it’s hard to see where the opportunities for specially commissioned, often niche projects, such as this one, would reside. Wynton’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is another of course but even top big bands struggle to be financially sustainable without the support of public money.

The highlights of this album are many. ‘No Mystery’ is an awesome arrangement, recycling Chick’s typically complex figures and in places reminiscent of another of his compositions, ‘Spain’: now in the pantheon of jazz standards. There are wonderful cascading layers of sound and terrific piano and bass solos. It’s fabulous, virtuosic playing by one and all.

‘You’re Everything’; is subtle and wistful, with the Fender Rhodes piano sound deployed to excellent effect. Passing the opening melody lines between instruments works very well and the reinterpretation stays light touch throughout. There are top-notch tenor and trombone solos by Denis Gäbel and Günter Bollmann respectively, cutting loose and hitting the heights. The segue into ‘La fiesta’ is a consummate piece of writing: flamenco-style clapped rhythms, the haunting, gradual emergence of the theme is understated and brilliant. This is one of Chick’s festival pieces but here, the arranger chooses instead to give us only a snippet to cast its spell (even once it transitions into the major key); offering a seductive promise of more to come if we go check-out the original.

The final track, ‘Return to Forever’ is by turns, intriguing, ethereal and a seat of the pants joyride. Once it gets motoring, the skill and energy of the rhythm section means it’s always moving forward, never ‘square’ and they hit some marvellous grooves for the rest of the band and the soloists; flute (Oliver Leicht in an appropriately Joe Farrell-esque mood) and trombone (Christian Jaksjø) to feed off. There’s a masterful fade at the end leaving us wanting more.

This great music lives on because greatness is timeless. No Mystery.