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It is 40 years since the release of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and if 69-year old pianist Chick Corea had done nothing else in his career he would still be remembered for that revolutionary recording. But like so many of his fellow alumni from Miles’ band, Corea’s life has been marked by constant creativity.

Soon we will get to see Corea here again with a line-up of the legendary outfit he formed soon after leaving Davis in the early ‘70s. Along for the tour will be long-time colleague bassist Stanley Clarke, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, drummer Lenny White and guitarist Frank Gambale. It is a stunning line-up of jazz virtuosity.

Of course, by the time Corea joined Miles he was already a seasoned musician having played with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, Willi Bobo and Mongo Santamaria. His first album had been released in 1966. But it was with Davis that his name became writ large in the jazz world. He appeared on Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way, and Bitches Brew; and he also worked with musicians who were to become lifelong friends, such as Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and John McLaughlin.

Corea originally founded Return to Forever in 1971 with Flora Purim on vocals, Joe Farrell on flute and soprano saxophone and Airto Moreira on drums. The line-up changed the next year with just Clarke remaining and Bill Connors on electric guitar and drummer Lenny White joining. (Al Di Meola later replaced Connors). Between 1972 and 1977 the group released seven studio albums and several live recordings.

Since then Corea has released more than 60 albums and has worked on his own solo projects or collaborations with people such as Herbie Hancock and Gary Burton. He has been nominated for 51 Grammys and has won 15! In 2007 he recorded The Enchantment with banjo master Bela Fleck. The 5 Peace Band toured internationally in 2008 and featured Corea and guitarist John McLaughlin along with saxophonist Kenny Garrett, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta toured internationally (Drummer Brian Blade played the dates in Australia).

“It’s been a pretty intense couple of years,” says Corea when I catch up with him by phone to talk about the forthcoming tour. He has just returned from Scandinavia where he toured with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. In December he tours Japan and Italy.

“I’m feeling quite good and I decided to accept a lot of various projects that I love to do and it’s been working out great actually,” adds the pianist, who has also been added to Downbeat magazine’s Hall Of Fame as well as being named Artist Of the Year and Electric Keyboardist of The Year.

“My connections with my friends like Gary Burton, like the Trondheim band, like Christian (McBride)and Brian (Blade) is so rich with just friendship and musical experience that it’s just a pleasure for me,” he continues. “I get to be in different kinds of different settings with different repertoires and slightly different kinds of music that we play. All of it keeps me very fresh and creating all the time.”

A brief Return To Forever reunion tour took place in 1983 but a fully-fledged one did not occur until 2008. With Corea, Clarke, White and Al Di Meola in the line-up it received rave reviews. This coincided with the release of Return to Forever: The Anthology. A concert DVD was recorded during their performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was released in May 2009.

Now in 2011 we have the chance to see Return To Forever once more on their Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy tour. Corea, Clarke and White all appeared on that album, along with Bill Connors, who was slated to come to Australia but has had to withdraw because of illness.

“We’ve decided to focus in on the older Return To Forever music,” explains Corea. “The repertoire of the first record and Hymn Of The 7^th Galaxy. There’s a couple of pieces on that recording that we’ve never played since we recorded them – ‘The Game Maker’ and ‘Mothership’ - so we’re going to revamp those.  Everyone is writing and contributing new music to the picture so there’ll be also some new offerings.”

“I did one in 1983 for a couple of months touring,” recalls Corea when I ask about the very first RTF reunion.  “In fact, we played practically all new music on that tour and we hadn’t revisited that music since. Then in 2008 we did a reunion tour with the quartet; but it’s been the basic connection with Stanley and Lenny that has been very fruitful for me. We were just talking about it yesterday that our roots go back to late ‘60s and ‘70s when Stanley worked with Pharoah Sanders and all three of us at various times with Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard. Our jazz roots are very much a precious thing to us, so last year we did a trio where we explored that kind of music. The new band is going to be very nice.”

Jean-Luc Ponty is a welcome addition to the outfit. He has been coming to Australia since the early 70s when he was here with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and also Frank Zappa.

“Recently when I was in Europe playing some solo concerts Jean-Luc was in the area and he came down and we invited him to bring his violin,” explains Corea, “and we did some duets on stage and it was a real joy to do. Then we did a little project last year at the Hollywood Bowl for one night which we found Jean-Luc, Bill Conners, Stanley and Chaka Kahn and that was nice too. Having Jean-Luc in the mix is going to be really refreshing.

“Jean-Luc is from our kind of jazz rock era in the ‘70s with his own bands and with the Mahavishnu Orchestra,” continues Corea when I suggest that the violinist adds an extra dimension to the music. “We share a liking for this form and the electric side of music. Also, Jean-Luc’s roots - just like Stanley and Lenny and myself - go back into jazz and be bop. So having this group to write music for is really a pleasure.”

“I met Stanley at a club in Philadelphia in, I think it must have been, 1971 or something like that,” recalls Corea when I ask him about the origins of RTF.  “Joe Henderson hired me for a week to play this engagement. I was living in New York and I was commuting back and forth to Philly. There was Stanley on stage with his acoustic bass and amplifiers. I bought my Fender Rhodes on that particular gig and it was a sax cat, I think Pete Yellin, was playing alto saxophone. Anyway, Stanley and I hooked up. We immediately became friends and loved playing together and started doing some trio work together. The association developed when I put the Return To Forever band together.”

“Yeah, it’s really going to be very exciting,” responds Corea when I mention that it is an incredible line-up of jazz veterans. “We’ve been talking a lot on the phone, we remember the experience from last summer at the Hollywood Bowl which was quite exciting. So now to have a lot of concerts for [this] year to develop the band’s rapport and music is going to be a joy.”

Corea met drummer Lenny White while playing with Miles Davis. White was still a teenager when he played on Bitches Brew!

“Yes, that’s right we met briefly in the studio,” agrees Corea, “and I heard Lenny play a couple of times when I heard him play with the Joe Henderson band. But it wasn’t until, I think it was, the end of ’72 start of ’73 when Stanley and I put the electric version of Return To Forever together that Lenny came with Stanley to form a trio. We played together for a week in San Francisco and that’s where we auditioned guitarists but it was a trio gig that week. I played Fender Rhodes, Stanley played upright bass, Lenny played a small kit of drums and that’s where we met Billy Conners.”

I mention to Corea that I had recently purchased the 40^th anniversary edition of Bitches Brew and that it still sounded ‘mind blowing.’

“Well it’s funny when something like that becomes so loved and remembered and publicly acclaimed from so long ago,” responds Corea. “It’s always funny to revisit it in my memory because it was only a very few days that I would go down to the studio and meet all these guys and throw some stuff down on tape that none of us really knew what it was.

“During the time it actually felt like a rehearsal because Miles said, ‘Lets try this, you do that, you do that’ and then he would let the musicians kind of find their way. Then after each long take we would think, ‘that was an interesting rehearsal’ but that turned out to be the actual tracks of Bitches Brew.”

One of the things that most of the musicians who played with Miles in those days seem to share is the notion of pushing the musical envelope. (Corea even recently did an album with Bela Fleck).

“Well, certainly something that keeps me alive and fresh is to always create something,” says Corea. “I always follow my interest when I think of something or a combination of musicians who I think I could learn something new from or to actually try and see what happens and use the live stage as sort of piloting palette to go out and try things on the audience and see if it works - constant experimentation.”

“Yeah, it’s true, I agree with that,” he replies when I suggest that when Bitches Brew was originally released there were not the same artificial barriers between music categories that exist today. “It’s too bad. I remember in the ‘60s in New York the radio stations even were like that: you had DJs that would play a whole wide range of music. They would play anything from Bartok through to Thelonious Monk. It was more individual tastes and individual artists more than what it is today; but that’s the way it is. What are you going to do? You have to find an end run and keep on creating, that’s what I think.

“My criteria is that if it’s creative and uplifting the forms are definitely going to change - as all forms change always - but if it’s creative and if it’s aesthetic and if it’s beautiful to the listener then we’re in the right place, I think.”

I mention that so many of the then young musicians who played with Miles or started their careers around the time of Bitches Brew are still going strong.

“Herb’s going strong, Wayne’s got a great band and John McLaughlin is doing better then ever,” agrees Corea. “Jean-Luc Ponty is in his prime as far as his music and his playing. Stanley - my god! It’s a great bunch of friends.”

Return To Forever tour Australia in February.