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Jazz Articles about Bill Connors
Stanley Clarke: The Complete 1970s Epic Albums Collection
by John Kelman
Legacy Recordings' recent spate of Complete Albums Collection box sets have righted a whole slew of wrongs by bringing long out-of-print recordings back in a reasonably priced and tidily collected series. They may be relatively light on production values--simple clamshell-style boxes, mini-LP cardboard sleeves, and booklets whose information, beyond detailed track and personnel listings, is largely dependent upon how much the artist has to say, if anything at all--but the opportunity to collect an entire discography from a specific period ...
read moreReturn to Forever: Return to Forever: The Anthology
by Tom Greenland
In support of their 2008 reunion tour, Concord Records has released Return to Forever: The Anthology, a selective overview of the quartet's classic 'middle period.' Formed by principal composer/keyboardist Chick Corea, RTF included bassist Stanley Clarke, drummer Lenny White and guitarists Bill Connors or Al DiMeola. An alumnus of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969), inspired by Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, as well as Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Yes, Corea recorded two RTF albums with Clarke (a former compatriot ...
read moreThe Anthology
by John Kelman
One of the seminal fusion bands of the 1970s, keyboardist Chick Corea's Return to Forever, alongside like-minded but completely different groups including Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report, not only went to vinyl sales territory few jazz artists had gone before, but to arena tours more normally associated with big ticket rock groups. But the music of RTF was never meant to be intimate. The high velocity and high volume playing was far more fitting ...
read moreBill Connors: Return
by Jim Santella
Combining light Latin smooth jazz with searing contemporary thrills, Bill Connors proves that he's been hard at work practicing, writing music, and studying since his last two albums, Double Up and Assembler, were recorded in the late 1980s. No sense in letting such great guitar chops get stale. With Return, he's able to turn it loose and demonstrate the same fiery technique that he displayed with Return to Forever in 1973-74 and later with a wider selection of contemporary jazz ...
read moreBill Connors: Return
by Woodrow Wilkins
At first the guitar licks might bring Pat Metheny to mind. Then the overall sound may give the impression of a Chick Corea ensemble. Both impressions would be wrong--but not entirely. It's Bill Connors, a veteran who has recorded or performed with many modern jazz legends, including Jack DeJohnette, Steve Khan, and Lee Konitz. He's even spent time with Return to Forever, Corea's pioneering 1970s fusion group, and Dave Weckl, who toured and recorded with Corea's Elektric and Acoustic bands ...
read moreBill Connors: Return
by John Kelman
A musical chameleon, guitarist Bill Connors has gone through at least three different incarnations in the past. As the first guitarist in Chick Corea's Return to Forever, Connors attracted attention for his stinging and passionate work on Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (Polydor, 1973). But no sooner had his star begun to rise than he left the band, the more aggressive fusion stance of the band being a far cry from the more Latin-informed group that he joined on the ...
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