AllAboutJazz

Hollywood Bowl Extravaganza to Reunite Original Members of Return to Forever and All-Star Guests
Corea, Clarke & White will be joined by vocal great Chaka Khan, violin virtuoso Jean-Luc Ponty and original RTF guitarist Bill Connors on September 2, 2009

Chaka Khan, Jean-Luc Ponty and Bill Connors will take the stage with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White at the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 2 for one show only, commencing Corea, Clarke & White's first worldwide trio tour.

Khan (featured on a 1982 Lenny White-produced project, Echoes of an Era, with Corea, Clarke, White, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard) is expected to perform some of her own hits along with Return to Forever classics. Ponty (a key collaborator on Corea's 1976 classic My Spanish Heart, and with Clarke on 1995's Rite of Strings) will lend his virtuosic violin playing to the mix.

Connor's appearance will mark the first performance of Return to Forever's original electric lineup since 1974. Together they will reprise their dynamic chemistry from the classic albumHymn of the Seventh Galaxy, performing such early RTF material as “Space Circus," “Captain Seor Mouse" and “Spain."

“Each one of these very special friends is so important in our musical lives," says Corea. “Jean-Luc, who helped carve the music of the now legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra in its second incarnation, will join the trio to perform, among other songs, 'Armando's Rhumba' fromMy Spanish Heart. And we're very excited to have our old buddy and RTF's original guitarist,Billy Connors, join us to perform 'After the Cosmic Rain' and other songs. And finally, the amazing Chaka Khan will be there to spark the band into who knows what spheres."

Also appearing at the Hollywood Bowl show is master guitarist John Scofield and the Piety Street Band.

The Hollywood Bowl performance will kick off a whirlwind tour for the trio that includes performing arts centers, festivals and intimate nightclub engagements throughout the United States and Europe, and culminating in December with performances in Japan and Singapore.

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