The classic lineup of Return to Forever will reunite for a summer tour next year. The band - keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Al Di Meola and drummer Lenny White - will play 40-50 gigs in the U.S. and Europe.
Shows will be their first performances together in more than 25 years.
RTF, along with Miles Davis, Weather Report and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, pioneered the use of electric instruments in a jazz-oriented setting that was ultimately labeled fusion.
A Return to Forever anthology featuring remixed and remastered tracks from the albums "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy," "Where Have I Known You Before," "No Mystery" and "Romantic Warrior" will be released to coincide with the tour.Those albums, released between 1973 and 1976, charted in the pop top 40 with the exception of "Hymn."
Ted Kurland Associates is the booking agency for the Return to Forever tour.
Corea founded RTF in 1971 with Clarke, flutist Joe Farrell, percussionist Airto and singer Flora Purim and played Latin-tinged jazz on the side from their main gig in Stan Getz's group.White joined in August 1973 and in 1974, Di Meola, then 19, entered the band.They broke up in 1976 after hitting their commercial peak with "Romantic Warrior."
While the band reuniting is the best known of the its various incarnations, Corea put a revolving door on RTF's lineup over the years, much as his Davis did with his bands. Among the musicians who have been members of RTF are: guitarists Bill Connors and Earl Klugh, drummers Steve Gadd and Gerry Brown, percussionist Mingo Lewis, singer Gayle Moran, trumpeters John Thomas and James Tinsley,and trombonists Jim Pugh, Ron Moss and Harold Garrett.
Corea, Clarke, DiMeola, and White did a reunion tour in 1983.