FunkFreak75 I've never been certain why this album has always, since I acquired it in 1978, maintained a very high place on my all- time list of Favorite Albums, but now, after examining it from the critical perspective of a music reviewer I think I have a better grasp of it.

1. "The Woods" (4:23) a wonderfully atmospheric, psychedelic, even appropriately-comedic collection of sounds and melodies to open Chick's 1977 rendering of Charles Dodgson's famous story. What a great, perfect opening (overture). Like a soundtrack to a book-on-tape. (10/10) 2. "Tweedle Dee" (1:10) piano and cello & strings; sounds very much like one of Yo-Yo- Ma and Edgar Meyer's "Goat Rodeo" pieces from the 21st Century. (5/5)

3. "The Trial" (1:43) Gayle Moran's singing of The Queen Hearts' famous line "Who stole the tarts was it the Kind of Hearts?" is fittingly quite annoying. Perfectly appropriate for this story! (5/5)

4. "Humpty Dumpty" (6:27) great jazz jam that sounds coming from Chick's piano, Eddie Gomez's double bass, Steve Gadd's drums, and Joe Farrell's tenor saxophone that feels more based in the realm of true jazz due to the double bass play but, it does cross over into the J-R Fusion style with Farrell's sax style and Gadd's nuanced drumming palette. The song also does kind of an "overture" job of presenting melody themes that will come up (repeatedly) in later songs. Awesome high-energy, melodic jazz piece! Man are these artists skilled and talented! One of the most tightly composed and performed (recorded) songs I've ever heard! (10/10)

5 "Prelude to Falling Alice" (1:19) Chick's piano, strings, metal percussives, and Gayle Moran (and, later, horns) present the ephemeral framework of the song that follows. (5/5)

6. "Falling Alice" (8:17) Horns are the opening mood and melody setter for this before Gayle brings us into the story. Chick's electronic keyboard play in the instrumental solo sections is at its absolute best but Gayle Moran, Joe Farrell (and the horn section), Eddie Gomez, and Steve Gadd's contributions make this one of my absolute favorite J-R Fuse songs of all-time. It's even better than any RTF song! (20/20)

7. "Tweedle Dum" (2:54) Chick's piano with the strings complement (with Jamie Faunt on double bass) and Gayle Moran's ghost-like vocalise make this an excellent buffer between the album's two highlights. (1010)

8. "Dear Alice" (13:06) Chick's piano arpeggio provides all the support necessary for both Eddie Gomez and Chick's right hand (not to mention Steve Gadd's amazing subtle support on the drum kit) to issue forth two minutes of some of the finest soloing you'll ever hear. At 2:45, Gayle returns to move forward the Alice story before stepping back to allow one awesome flute solo from Joe Farrell (while Chick, Eddie, and Steve continue to provide their amazingly nuanced support.) I LOVE Chick's rhythmic Latin melodies in the background! At 6:40 we bridge into Chick's turn at the lead. It takes a few cycles for him to warm up, but once he gets cooking in the (eighth minute) it's epic! And the support from and Joe, Eddie, and especially Steve is phenomenal. While not quite as mind-blowingly perfect as "Falling Alice" this is, for me, another highlight of the Jazz-Rock Fusion's "Classic Era." Steve's drum play over the final two minutes not only rivals, in my opinion, that of the famous "Aja" sequence but surpasses it! (24/25)

9. "The Mad Hatter Rhapsody" (10:50) Chick and Herbie going toe-to-toe using some of the album's previous themes and patterns. Chick is on piano and Herbie is playing a Fender Rhodes with Eddie, Steve Gadd, and the Joe Farrell-led horns (mixed masterfully with Chick's synth horns) bringing us a rollicking race-track tune with great solos from Chick's Minimoog, Herbie's Fender, The rhythm section is so tight--even when the dance rhythm turns slightly Disco! I'm not crazy about the little Latin motif in the eighth minute, but I LOVE the way they tie it up with Gayle taking us back to the "main melody" of the Alice songs. (19.25/20)

This is an album that I find so hard to find fault with. It may not be as free and unstructured as Bitches Brew or the Mwandishi albums but this musicianship of the very highest order as well as inspired compositional genius. It will be of no surprise to me if the metric ratings for this one come out extremely high.

A+/five stars; one of the finest jazz, jazz-rock fusion, or prog albums I've ever heard/known. In a rather unexpected twist of fate, The Mad Hatter is my highest rated and one of my Top 10 Favorite J-R Fuse albums of the "Classic Era"!

FunkFreak75 Chick's demo hopeful for entry/admittance to the world and work of Broadway composer.

1. "Imp's Welcome" (2:55) very cool intro with many weird, quirky sounds coming from Chick's vast collection of keyboards. (4.5/5)

2. "Lenore" (3:25) great melodic jazz-rock tune with Chick playing off of and against ... himself! Piano, Moog, clavinet, ARP Odyssey, Fender Rhodes, Yamaha organ--they're all playing off one another--as if coming from different musicians on the same stage! Gayle Moran's wordless vocalese at the end is nice touch. (9.25/10)

3. "Reverie" (1:58) opens as a solo piano piece, very pensive and heart-felt, but then Gayle's overly-reverberated vocalese float across the back stage. A sign of how in sync husband and wife are at this point in their lives. (9.625/5)

4. "Looking at the World" (5:29) opening with some previews of some of the future riffs that'll be central to next year's The Mad Hatter, Gayle joins with the rhythm section, this time singing in a more jazz-pop style (with words) before Chick ramps quickly into some heavier j-r fusion between Gayle's multi-track verses. Kind of like an oldie from the 40s with the future jazz-rock fusion that's coming with the Jaco Pastorius version of Weather Report. Interesting "underwater bass" from Anthony Jackson. (8.875/10)

5. "Nite Sprite" (4:31) this one sounds like it feeds right into the RTF Romantic Warrior recording sessions (especially Part II of "The Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant"). A little funkier with Anthony Jackson's bass and Steve Gadd's fantastic near-disco jazz drumming. (9.25/10)

6. "Soft and Gentle" (5:08) with Gayle in the vocal seat for the whole song, this one once again evokes many reminders of Broadway musicals, great chanteuses of old, as well as many old jazz/pop standards of the 1940s and 50s. And I love the presence and powerful effect of the strings, Chick's grand piano, Eddie Gomez's acoustic double bass, Steve Gadd's classy jazz drumming, and the horn section. Quite lovely--as well as being quite a lovely composition. Deserves to be heard. (9.5/10)

7. "Pixiland Rag" (1:10) more light and whimsical keyboard experimentation in a solo format. There's even a little ragtime jazz in here. (4.333/5)

8. "Leprechaun's Dream" (13:03) a thoughtful, rather pensive song that makes one feel fear and uncertainty: as if a person is living in the moment so as to escape having to make any/all decisions in the Big "Real" World. The play of double bassist Eddie Gomez and flutist Joe Farrell are delightfully uplifting--especially playing off of the syncopation genius of Steve Gadd. The contributions of the string and horn sections are also quite welcome. Crossing/blending several unusual styles makes this a rather unique and ambiguous song--making it difficult to define or categorize. Again, I feel that Chick this album's music is best serving as a "getting to know" each other germination fest for what will become Romantic Warrior, and then, The Mad Hatter. Still, it's hard to not admire, respect, and be awed by the performers' performances as well as Chick's growing big-band compositional mastery. (22.6667/25)

Total Time 37:39

This album, as a whole, sounds like an artist that is sitting on a fence, trying to decide which direction to take his music. As displayed here, the talented man has many directions to choose: we here much of his recent Return To Forever style, some of his older Latin roots, some of the future fanciful future dreaming that he's doing, and a surprising number of riffs, sounds, and styles that feel as if they are coming from the world of the Broadway musical (especially Leonard Bernstein)! The question of what he will choose to "specialize" in--and when he'll come out of his haze of confusion and synaesthesia--will be resolved in the next year or two with the demise of his popular and highly- acclaimed Return To Forever project and the repetitious re-confirmation of his solo career. All in all, this is definitely a step toward Chick's other upcoming masterful releases, Romantic Warrior, My Spanish Heart, and my favorite, The Mad Hatter.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of eclectic jazz-rock fusion and another amazing release in a long career of astonishingly high creativity and top-tier quality products.

snobb Same way as five years ago, with first snow Chick Corea acoustic trio's live recordings collection from world tour comes again this early winter. Titled "Trilogy 2" it is obvious continuation of their successful 2013 Japanese release (in 2014 released in Europe and US as well). Complied from 2010-2016 concerts, this time it is a double CD (previous one was a triple) and comes from Japan again. Most probably next year will offer more accessible Western editions as well.

Working formula didn't change a lot - with opener "How Deep Is The Ocean" (the only song presented on both first and second "Trilogies") with Corea's Latin/Fusion hits "500 Miles High" and "La Fiesta", his early success "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs" and few standards.

As in case with first "Trilogy", biggest interest here is a new interpretations of known songs. Started with very relaxed and even unusually for him slightly sentimental manner, Chick after few first songs returns back to more dynamic enthusiastic grooving post-bop - music he plays best starting from mid 70s.

Despite of obviously entertaining character of presented material, trio of highest class professionals never sound repetitive or boring, mostly because of unexpected takes on well known material. It's really impressive to hear how different from popular versions many songs sound without leaving mainstream/chamber jazz frames.

Great X-mas present for pianist fans.

js It seems that in any musical genre, the most creative work goes down during the days in which said genre is being created. For sure the most intense bebop happened in the early 40s, and although you may still hear some good bop to this day, it will never be quite the same again. The same could also be said for jazz fusion, a genre that became an easy target for criticism over time, but in the heady days of its inception, some really interesting music was created under the fusion moniker, which leads us to Chick Corea’s first attempt to lead a fusion group while recording the album, “Return to Forever”. Chick was hardly new to the fusion world at the time of this recording, he had already participated on several ground breaking albums by Miles Davis, but, as stated earlier, “Return to Forever” was Chick’s first fusion recording as band leader. Corea’s albums as leader prior to this were definitely shaking up the jazz world, whether he was making cutting edge post bop tracks with Roy Haynes, or avant-garde excursions with Anthony Braxton, Chick was definitely a pianist to watch in the early 70s.

Like many early fusion recordings, a ‘mystical’ scent of hippie incense hangs heavy over “Return”. Psychedelic rock and progressive rock were at a peak during this time, and their sometimes indulgent excesses were an influence on many early fusion albums. The lengthy multi-sectioned songs on here, as well as Flora Purim’s exotic wordless vocals and a good dose of spacey reverb give “Return” a definite art rock flavor, but the long-line virtuoso solos from Chick, and everyone else, are brought about by these musician’s well trained background in jazz. Chick’s solos during this time were heavily influenced by his interest in Afro-Cuban jazz, his montuno driven rhythms contain some of the fiercest playing of his entire career. Unfortunately, in a few years after this recording, much of that aggressive Afro-Cuban influence will leave Chick’s playing for good. Rising to Chick’s energetic challenge, bassist Stanley Clarke man handles the difficult and bulky stand-up bass to play driving rhythms reminiscent of Cream and James Brown, the sort of bass lines that are more easily played on an electric bass.

All of the tracks on here are excellent, but title track, “Return to Forever” and side two’s lengthy “Sometime Ago-La Fiesta” stand out in the way that the whole band comes together for some very intense interplay driven by Corea’s quasi-montuno rhythmic figures. This will always be Chick Corea’s best fusion album, later attempts in this genre by him seem to get bogged down with too many compositional ideas, and too much ‘cheerful’ cuteness.

snobb Pianist Chick Corea's Return To Forever(RTF) project made him a superstar of sort at the late 70s, when RTF themselves were already inactive jazz fusion popularity in general experienced significant decline. Corea himself tried to find a new ground as solo artist playing everything from pop jazz to Latin to third stream, with only partial success.

At the same time music industry still worked hard trying to explore "Chick Corea"'s brand till the end. It was a time when numerous labels have released plenty of all possible re-issues,compilations and archival materials, related with Corea's name, often in quite odd form."Jazzman" is one of such releases (which can be find under dozen of different titles on the market as well).

This compilation contains four Corea's early pieces, most probably coming from three-days session, recorded in 1969. Chick collaborators are all future stars,including bassist Dave Holland,drummer Jack DeJohnette,flutist Hubert Laws,trumpeter Woody Shaw,tenor Bennie Maupin and lesser known percussionist Horacee Arnold. The music has been recorded at the same time as Corea's first avant-garde jazz work "Is", and contains stylistically very similar music. Even being less free and more tuneful, "Jazzman" for sure must to disappoint RTF fans, expecting something similar in "new" Corea's releases. At the same time, it can really attract those not so numerous fans of Corea's most creative experimental period of late 60s - early 70s. More accessible than "Is" or "A.R.C." (not mention his complex masterpieces,released with Circle), "Jazzman" contains a bit direct-less mix of avant-garde jazz, early fusion and post-bop and that way illustrates quite well where from Corea's later music is coming.

The odd thing about this album is one could already be familiar with same (or very similar material) even without knowing about it. No info is provided about original sources, and to make the situation even more dreadful, it looks some titles of previously released songs are changed as well. As a result, we know that most probably "Jazzman" contains same, or very similar material with that already released in 1972 on obscure Corea's "Sundance" album. Again, it looks that all compositions were recorded during same sessions as "Sundance", and very possible "Jazzman" combines some material, already released on "Sundance" with one or more outtakes. At the same time there are plenty of albums released under different titles,which contain same or very similar material (quite often different songs titles doesn't mean that songs are really different), plus some of alternative releases mention containing "alternate versions" of same tracks. It's almost impossible to realize now where the truth is, probably better solution is Corea's "Early Works" album, possibly containing full session's material in one place.

Anyway, released most probably as one more try to explore "hot" Corea's name of the moment, this album contains some interesting material from possibly most creative Chick's period and today can offer some attractive moments for pianist's fans.