Stanley Clarke Interview - Talks About Return To Forever

This summer Return To Forever, Chick Corea (keyboards), Stanley Clarke (bass), Lenny White (drums) and Al Di Meola (guitar), reunite for an unprecedented return to the concert stage after more than 25 years apart.

Iconic electric bassist Stanley Clarke spoke to www.ijazz.org in depth about his influences and the origins of the band and how the music impacted on the 1970s music scene.



To commemorate the World Tour 2008 they have personally selected and overseen the careful remixing and remastering of their ground-breaking repertoire, The Anthology, which will be released by Concord Records on May 27, 2008. Clearly, contemporary bands like Medeski, Martin and Wood, Rudder, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, the Flecktones et al have felt the imprint of RTF's iconic canon.

Even the hip hop contingent has found riffs for clever sampling and artists including Lupe Fiasco and Dr. Dre acknowledge the power of the group's grooves. The packaging of this new collection is no less definitive than the music it exhibits. Designed by Peter Gabriel's (Real World) Creative Director, Marc Bessant the comprehensive and personal nature of this release is displayed in its ample parts. Never-before-seen photos of the band, individual recollections from each band member and a deeply honorific and entertaining narrative liner essay from Miles Davis reissue producer Grammy-winner Bob Belden all contribute to the top-notch treatment this collection exudes on every page (and every groove.)

There is a moment in a short clip (view at www.return2forever.com) where the band ensconced at famed Mad Hatter studios rips through a tune fueled by the stomp fun...

Rewind That! - Verve Remixed 4 - Your Guide To Jazz's Hottest Remix Series

Verve Remixed 4, music’s most respected and emulated Remix series once again breaks new ground. More soulful in both repertoire and musical direction, the new album enlists a cutting-edge arsenal of production contributors to re-imagine a luminous array of R&B, soul, latin and jazz standards and rare gems. This compelling rollout features funk, afrobeat and transcultural tastemakers as well – the beat world’s most influential accompanists pairing off with some of the most memorable and against-the-grain vocal performances ever. The most cohesive offering of the Verve Remix canon, Remixed 4 illuminates the depth and durability of the Verve legacy for generations to come.

“Cry Me A River” – Truth & Soul Remix – Dinah Washington

Fresh off the game-changing remix on the Amy Winehouse track “Love Is A Losing Game,” Brooklyn Production engine Truth & Soul stretch the regal delivery of Dinah Washington and enrich her magical vocal style with a mix that is as complementary as it is mesmerizing. Culled from the Grammy Hall Of Famer’s 1959 album What A Diff’erence A Day Makes, the track exemplifies the electrical charges metered out when understated accompaniment meets timeless enunciation. 

“Gimmie Some” – Mike Mangini Remix – Nina Simone

Take one of the ‘60s and ‘70s most distinctive and courageous vocalists and park her next to one of the dance world’s most unorthodox rhythm stylists and what do you get: A girl-group shape-shift that leaves you desiring whatever the sultry Simone can conjure up ‘Come on over here and fill my cup’ she wails on this rive...

Roy Hargrove - The Trumpet King Returns - Listen Up!

If there’s one trumpeter alive today that could hope, in some small way, to be as cool as Miles Davis himself, that man is Roy Hargrove. It’s a comparison that though steeped in expectation is actually one that bears fruit on many levels. Hargrove’s innate sense of style, his buoyant, often-playful attitude, and most importantly his restless search for something new in his playing and music. It’s also evident in his dual personality of both soulful balladeer and arch hipster; he’s a funky cat and no mistake. Yet he does both with ease and a heartfelt passion. 

The Texas-born trumpeter is now approaching 40, though his eternally youthful personality still exudes the energy of man ten years his junior. And it’s with this personal milestone looming, and almost twenty years since his solo debut ‘Diamond In The Rough’ was released in 1989, that he releases his latest LP, ‘Earfood’, which many will find both striking in its maturity and listenable in its effortless blend of RH’s hooky melodies and that irrepressible ability to groove with real depth and lyricism.

It’s also an album that displays Hargrove’s own way of reconciling his dalliances to both the deep jazz tradition that saw him ‘discovered’ as a 16 year old prodigy by Wynton Marsalis, but also his inevitable interest in funk, R&B and pop. His string of acclaimed solo albums has indeed featured steady progress in both his hard swinging traditional side and his edgy funk-into-soul pop albums under the guise of the RH Factor.  Here with an all-acoustic band, they create beautiful layers of chords, mixing harmony and ...