In really no musical order I started playing some Chick Corea, Return to Forever, and even a little of Tower of Power tonight. I thought I would play some random, favorite songs of these guys for you… Be forwarned that at least the first song is a hair weird but man is it tight and funky…

The first song is a total rando as I like a lot of Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock and this is about one of the farthest I would normally think to play, right off the back. But I thought I’d throw it on mostly on the tightness of all of the players, and it reminds me of good funky diverse later Chick that really heavily lied on their unbelievable drummers… Carrie says it reminds her of the music of a musical. I definitely see that…

This song was off Corea’s 1978 album the Mad Hatter. Definitely a little later and a little weirder. As sick as he is I think that Scientology had a force in it, thought I learned his sick bass player Stanley Clarke did a lot with the song naming (especially the ones he wrote, the Sorcerer, etc) – stuff seemingly right out of Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, dorky, I know… He was and is and always will be pretty popular in Japan as well, interestingly enough…

The Funky Chick Corea -- Early 70's

This photo above is more along the lines of the Corea I know and like. A little more traditional and a little more jazzy, and Latin and even Brazilian influenced. I know it’s hard to listen to some of this stuff on the internet and get the good vibes out of it, particularly if you’re at work at something, but I will say that this is a good goose-bump-yielding song… It is also one of the cleanest and most soulful playings of the Fender Rhodes I think I may have even ever heard — and believe me I’ve searched out this music… This is the famous “RTF” (Return to Forever — his band) albums out there, before they went a little more electronic; man is it good…

Return to Forever

This next song, Shadow of Lo, is one that on the album is a little cheesy but there is something about it. I particularly like this live version though, something that is a little more soulful and you can hear them all get down. This is slightly later, about 70’s playing as they are clearly all electronic here and this is when Corea was messing around heavily with pitch bending — an acquired taste. For this reason, along with the reasons for song #1, I give this post definitely the “weird music” label, and sorry, but it is good stuff if you ask me!

__________________

But finally…

Tower of Power -- look as some of the shades and hair dos...

I thought you guys would dig this. Way more funky, way more main stream. This was mid 70’s. And we’re still having the same discussions…