''Musicmagic'' is the seventh and final studio album of

fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

band

Return to Forever 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 Headhu ...

. This album contains the final line-up of the band, with only founders Chick Corea and

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first ja ...

returning from the previous album. This is the first album since ''

Light as a Feather ''Light as a Feather'' is the second studio album by jazz fusion band Return to Forever led by pianist Chick Corea. Content The style of the music remains mostly the same as the first album, though vocals were given a larger role. Corea pro ...

'' (1973) to contain vocals, featuring Stanley Clarke and Corea's wife

Gayle Moran Gayle Moran (born 1943) is a vocalist, keyboardist, and songwriter. She is from Spring Arbor, Michigan and graduated from Spring Arbor High School (now Spring Arbor University) in 1961. She was a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the ...

. This album also marks the return of original member

Joe Farrell Joseph Carl Firrantello (December 16, 1937 – January 10, 1986), known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name o ...

on saxophone and flute, along with several new members making up a five-piece horn section. In addition to the conventional two channel stereo version the album was also released by Columbia in a four channel

quadraphonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for th ...

version in 1977 as one of the last quadraphonic albums released by the label. In 2016 the album was re-issued in stereo on hybrid

Super Audio CD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple a ...

by Audio Fidelity. It was re-issued again on SACD by

Dutton Vocalion Dutton Vocalion specialises in re-issuing on CD music recorded between the 1920s and 1970s, and in issuing albums of modern digital recordings. It was established by British recording and re-mastering engineer Michael J. Dutton. Dutton Laborator ...

in 2017 containing both the quadraphonic and stereo mixes. With the addition of trombonist

Ron Moss Ronald Montague Moss (born March 4, 1952) is an American actor, musician and singer/songwriter, a member of the band Player, and best known for portraying Ridge Forrester, the dynamic fashion magnate on the CBS soap opera ''The Bold and the Be ...

, this lineup toured and recorded the live album '' Live'' (1977) which was re-issued in 1978 as a 4-LP set called ''Return to Forever Live: The Complete Concert''.

Track listing

#"The Musician" ( Chick Corea) – 7:12 #"Hello Again" (

) – 3:49 #"Musicmagic" (Corea,

) – 11:00 #"So Long Mickey Mouse" (Clarke) – 6:09 #"Do You Ever" (Moran) – 3:59 #"The Endless Night" (Corea, Moran) – 9:41

Personnel

* Chick Corea –

acoustic piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, Fender Rhodes electric piano,

Hohner clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

, synthesizers ( ARP Odyssey, Minimoog,

Polymoog The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time. His ...

, Moog 15 modular),

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

–

, Hammond B3 organ, Polymoog, vocals *

–

piccolo flute The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

, flute, soprano saxophone,

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

* James Tinsley – piccolo trumpet,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* John Thomas – trumpet, flugelhorn * James E. Pugh –

tenor trombone A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

* Harold Garret – tenor trombone, bass trombone, baritone horn *

–

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

acoustic bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar ...

Gerry Brown Gerry “The Gov.” Brown is a recording engineer, mixer and music producer based in Los Angeles, best known for his work with artists including Whitney Houston, John Legend, Earth, Wind & Fire, Madonna, Sting, Prince, Phil Collins, Marcu ...

– drums

Chart performance

References

External links

Return to Forever - ''Musicmagic'' (1977) album review by Jason Elias, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Return to Forever - ''Musicmagic'' (1977) album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Return to Forever - ''Musicmagic'' (1977) album credits & user reviews
at ProgArchives.com
Return to Forever - ''Musicmagic'' (1977) album to be listened
as stream on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

{{Authority control 1977 albums Columbia Records albums Return to Forever albums