On the Record: Return to Forever's "Romantic Warrior"

When the late piano giant Chick Corea formed Return to Forever with bassist Stanley Clarke in 1972, he had decided to step back from the avant-garde exploration of his Circle project with saxophonist Anthony Braxton, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Barry Altschul and embrace the burgeoning electro-acoustic fusion movement that followed in the footsteps of his work on Miles Davis’s electrified late 60s albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew.

The band would continually evolve as personnel changed over the following years, with Corea and Clarke as the only consistent members, and these changes brought a refinement of the group sound and the development of a sharply defined musical identity that even casual fans would recognize instantly.

Featuring Clarke, saxophonist and flutist Joe Farrell, and the Brazilian-born husband-and-wife team of vocalist Flora Purim and percussionist Airto Moreira, the 1972 eponymous ECM Records recording released under Corea’s name remains a true fusion classic, and their sophomore release Light as a Feather continued the debut’s acoustic-based approach. But the departure of Purim, Moreira, and Farrell and the subsequent October 1973 release of the Polydor session Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy marked a distinct shift to a more electric, harder-edged aesthetic, eschewing a wind player for the electric guitar of Bill Connors and replacing the flowing percussion of Moreira with the powerhouse chops of drummer and fellow Miles Davis alumnus Lenny White.

The then-19-year-old virtuoso guitarist Al Di Meola had taken Connors’ place for 1974’s Where Have I Known You Before, cementing the “classic” lineup of the band and firmly establishing their electric sound, with Corea moving away from the acoustic piano almost entirely.

After 1975’s GRAMMY-winner No Mystery, this version of the group recorded its final, best-selling, and arguably finest album together with the 1976 Columbia session Romantic Warrior.

Recorded in February of 1976 at the lauded Caribou Ranch studio near Boulder, Colorado, Romantic Warrior was the first Return to Forever release not to include the “featuring Chick Corea” credit on the cover and expanded beyond the overt funk influences of No Mystery to embrace Corea and Clarke’s classical inspirations. From its sword-and-sorcery cover art to its storybook track titles, the album was the complete conceptual package, and the fullest expression of Corea's sci-fi leanings to that time. 

The album comprises six original compositions, three credited to Corea and one each for White, Di Meola, and Clarke, each marked by eruptive solos, breathless unison lines, and a distinctly rock-informed approach reflected in Di Meola’s distorted guitar tone – a sound particularly in evidence on his compositional contribution “Majestic Dance.”

Corea’s opener, “Medieval Overture,” is a worthy representation of the album, with its up-front synthesizers and thrillingly bombastic drumming performance balanced by drastic changes in mood and color.

Lenny White’s “Sorceress” puts groove front and center, with Clarke’s double-stopped bass providing the funk while Di Meola brings the fire, setting the stage for an unexpected acoustic piano solo from Corea.

The title track surprises not only by its comparatively languid pace, but because it is the sole acoustic track on Romantic Warrior, down to Clarke’s upright bass and Di Meola’s acoustic guitar.

Though it certainly wouldn’t be considered “conventional” by any other band, the Al Di Meola tune “Majestic Dance” is the most “conventional” rock-based piece on the record, driving home the backbeat and giving plenty of space for the composer’s solo excursions, contrasting with Corea’s quizzical harpsichord-like synthesizer interludes, doubled on marimba.

Far from just a “bass feature,” Clarke’s “The Magician” is a masterstroke of texture and contrast that finds the band at its most orchestral and exploratory, veering wildly from densely layered keyboards to pin-drop pauses, from a magisterial march to an acid-rock blowout.

Corea’s closing piece, the two-part “Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant” takes Return to Forever to its “prog rock” zenith, bringing all of the band’s strengths to bear over its 11+ minute length and putting a final exclamation point on this era of their history before breaking up and reforming with new members for 1977’s swan song Musicmagic.

Despite the more varied and explorational approach than preceding releases, Romantic Warrior sold a half-million copies to achieve Gold Record status and hit #3 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart and #35 on the Billboard 200.

The inner sleeve of Romantic Warrior contains a poem written by poet Neville Potter, a friend of Corea, which reads:

Standing bold Romantic Warrior
Timeless one in amour gold
Giving your message to warriors all
The victory of victories is about to be told

Don’t succumb to the sorceress warriors
Tarnishing your purpose bright
Have your senses yet to have their fill
Of battles old and fearsome stories told each night
You’ve wandered off the path my warrior friends
Those pictures painted in your weary eyes

Tell of age-old times gone by

When you fought and jousted cross the skies
In those battled faces etched so deep
Are stories of those gruesome duels

When locked in combat for a thousand years
You earned the title tyrants cruel
But even in those loud victorious cries
The magician spun a strange defeat
For as you smote from view the jester bright
Your battered selves lay at your feet
The sadness in your hearts ring out
Protesting those whose silent will
Led you to this bloodstained trail
And you can't recall deciding to kill
Pick up the gauntlet warriors
Sheath your swords put up your trusty lance
Channel the power used to rush every foe
Into giving the future a chance
Believe in yourselves old warriors bold
Create a path so firm and sure
Fight for the birth of the freedom of man
The end of this medieval overture

Stanley Clarke N 4EVER performs 9/8 during the opening week of the SFJAZZ 2024-25 Season. Tickets and more information are available here.