Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and "Windows" are widely considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late 1960s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. Along with McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, and Keith Jarrett, Corea is considered to have been one of the foremost jazz pianists of the post-John Coltrane era.
Anthony Braxton is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, and was a key early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. He received great acclaim for his 1969 double-LP record For Alto, the first full-length album of solo saxophone music.
David “Dave” Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhunters, and Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever is often cited as one of the core groups of the jazz-fusion movement of the 1970s. Several musicians, including Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola, came to prominence through their performances on Return to Forever albums.
Barry Altschul is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.
The Song of Singing is a studio album by Chick Corea, released in 1971 on Blue Note Records. The recording features bassist Dave Holland and drummer/percussionist Barry Altschul.
Secret Agent is the twelfth album by Chick Corea, recorded and released in 1978. It is a musically diverse release that features Corea’s long-standing collaborators Joe Farrell on reeds and woodwinds, percussionist Airto, and vocalist Gayle Moran. Al Jarreau sings “Hot News Blues”, and a four piece brass section and string quartet also appear.
Children of Forever is the debut album by jazz fusion bassist Stanley Clarke. It was recorded in December 1972, and was released in 1973 by Polydor Records. On the album, Clarke is joined by vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Andy Bey, flutist Arthur Webb, guitarist Pat Martino, keyboardist Chick Corea, and drummer Lenny White.
Circle was an American avant garde jazz ensemble, active in 1970 and 1971. The group arose from pianist Chick Corea's early 1970s trio with Dave Holland on bass and Barry Altschul on drums and percussion with the addition of Anthony Braxton in a leading role on several reed instruments. The group's earliest recordings were made in 1970 for the Blue Note label but not released until 1975 under Corea's name. A live double album appeared on the ECM label in 1972. These recordings document a period in which Corea's work was steeped in the jazz 'avant garde,' prior to his complete shift to the jazz fusion orientation. Corea, Holland and Altschul also recorded the album, A.R.C. for ECM in 1971, but it was not released under the band name Circle.
Chick Corea (1941–2021) was an American jazz pianist and composer born on June 12, 1941, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Chick started learning piano at age four. He recorded his first album in 1966 with Tones For Joan's Bones. Corea performed with Blue Mitchell, Willie Bobo, Cal Tjader, and Herbie Mann in the mid-1960s. In the late 1960s, he performed with Stan Getz and Miles Davis. He became a role model for many young jazz pianists of the 1970s. He is often ranked with Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett as one of the most important pianists to appear after Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner, and he composed such prominent jazz standards as "Spain", "La Fiesta", and "Windows".
Conference of the Birds is a studio album by jazz bassist Dave Holland, recorded in 1972 and released in 1973. It is his fourth project on ECM Records, and his first as a leader. It is credited on the cover to the “David Holland Quartet”. In reference to the album title, the liner notes describe how birds would congregate each morning outside Holland's London apartment and join with one another in song. It features Holland on acoustic double bass, along with tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers, alto saxophonist Anthony Braxton and percussionist Barry Altschul. Braxton and Rivers also play flutes and clarinets throughout the album.
Circling In is a double LP collection by jazz pianist Chick Corea featuring performances recorded between 1968 and 1970, including the first recordings by the group Circle, which was first released on the Blue Note label in 1975. It contains trio performances by Corea with Miroslav Vitouš and Roy Haynes recorded in March 1968, which were later added to the CD reissue of Now He Sings, Now He Sobs as bonus tracks, and performances by permutations of the band Circle recorded in April and July 1970 some of which were later released as Early Circle.
Circulus is a double LP released under jazz pianist Chick Corea’s name, featuring performances recorded in 1970 by the free jazz group Circle, which was first released on the Blue Note label in 1978.
Afternoon of a Georgia Faun is an album by American jazz saxophonist Marion Brown recorded in 1970 and released on the ECM label. Along with Geechee Recollections and Sweet Earth Flying, it was one of Brown's albums dedicated to the US state of Georgia. The album features Brown, multi-instrumentalists Anthony Braxton and Bennie Maupin, vocalists Jeanne Lee and Gayle Palmore, pianist Chick Corea, and percussionists Andrew Cyrille and Jack Gregg, all of whom double on secondary instruments, along with three supplementary percussionists for the second track.
A.R.C. is a collaborative album credited to the trio of pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul, recorded and released in 1971 by the ECM label. The same trio featured on Corea's previous album The Song of Singing, as did an earlier version of “Nefertiti” by Wayne Shorter. The album title stands for "affinity, reality, communication," a term from Scientology, with which Corea had recently become involved. This is the first project in Holland’s long association with ECM.
Paris Concert is a live album by the short-lived jazz group Circle, which consisted of saxophonist Anthony Braxton, pianist Chick Corea, bassist David Holland and drummer Barry Altschul, recorded in 1971 and released in 1972 on the ECM label.
Lyric Suite for Sextet is an album by pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton with a string quartet recorded in 1982 and released on the ECM label. The album is the third studio recording by the duo following Crystal Silence (1972) and Duet (1978).
Creative Orchestra Music 1976 is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton recorded in 1976 and released on the Arista label. The album was subsequently included on The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton released by Mosaic Records in 2008.
The Complete Braxton is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton recorded in 1971 and released on the Freedom label. It features a variety of musicians, including trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, drummer Barry Altschul, and the London Tuba Ensemble.
Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert is a live album by Circle, a free jazz quartet that featured multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton, pianist Chick Corea, double bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Barry Altschul. It was recorded by German radio on November 28, 1970, in Iserlohn, West Germany, during an extended European tour that also took the group to the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, and was released on vinyl in 1971 by CBS/Sony Japan. Along with Circle 2: Gathering, the album was reissued on CD by Corea's Stretch label during the 1990s.
