Yes... it's true. Bill Connors, one of my all-time favorite guitarists, will rejoin his former Return To Forever bandmates Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White for a show at the Hollywood Bowl on September 2nd. This will be the first show of a fall tour for Corea, Clarke, and White. From the All About Jazz article:
"It's official: pianist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White will be joined September 2nd by guest guitarist Bill Connors at the Hollywood Bowl kick-off gig of their fall tour. The band, now billed as Corea, Clarke & White, will also be joined by legendary violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and song stylist Chaka Khan.
Inspired by what his friend and fellow Miles Davis alumnus John McLaughlin was doing with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Corea originally brought Connors extraordinarily expressive electric guitar skills into the band in 1973 so that Return To Forever could musically “make your hair move." As, indeed, they did. A long-time fan favorite among early jazz-rock fusion fans, Connors will join his former band mates when they open their tour at the storied Highland Ave. arena in Los Angeles."
Purchase tickets to the Corea, Clarke, Corea, and Connors Hollywood Bowl show
RTF back in the day...
This is fantatstic!
I hope it is filmed for DVD.
Posted by: Kirk Bickel | July 14, 2009 at 11:14 PM
There's only a few thing that I've been hoping & praying for over the past 25 - 30 years...
One was that Chick & Mahavishnu work together again.
Presto...Five Peace Band...one of the most incredible albums released in many. many years!
Of course, Vinnie's prescence didn't hurt too much either...;D
Two was that Satch finally lean away from his instrumental 'ramblings' , and to get involved with a "real" "Rock Band."
Presto...Chickenfoot!
Three was that Bill Connors come back, electrically, and play with Chick again.
They were a beautiful team, what with Chick's immense Jazz vocabulary at his fingertips, and Connors' somewhat 17-year old, sloppy, Jimmy Page-ish approach to attacking the guitar!
While Chick has maintained his skillful, yet playful approach to Fusion, proving that there are absolutely No Boundaries, Connors has excelled far beyond his RTF days, learning the immense possibilities of the fretboard, and showing it off via his Holdsworthian solo releases, "Step It," "Assembler" and "Double Up," and quite possibly saying that NOW is the time for a reunion of these two, now adult and awakened minds.
This could prove to be extremely special, and hopefully, will spark something that gets this particular "electric" quartet to play alot more than just this one date.
One can hope...right?
By the by...I DO have more that just three wishes!
Posted by: Michael Wright | July 17, 2009 at 03:16 AM
THIS IS THE BEST NEWS!!! I'm absolutely freaking out!! I hope it goes well and they do more dates with Bill Connors..this is the RTF reunion I was waiting for!!
Posted by: Sean | August 19, 2009 at 09:40 PM
bill connors guitar can weave a basket, like coltrain. his writhing on hymn of the seventh galaxy album is extremly cosmic. i hope the old school fusion lives on.
Posted by: jon stultz | January 18, 2010 at 06:14 AM
I actually like Bill better as a solo artist. He isn't held back by the band. He is the pre-DeMeola, Holdworth guy that never got the credit he deserves.
Posted by: Bruce | November 07, 2010 at 06:04 AM