Return to Forever IV, Zappa Plays Zappa, Paramount Theatre, Denver, August 27, 2011.

by Tim Van Schmidt

I wasn't prepared for what I saw at the Paramount Theatre on August 27. That is, a theater jammed full of music fans brought to their feet and cheering by jazz fusion music. This wasn't just an appreciative crowd, but devotees to a progressive music that has long passed its commercial prime on record, but evidently still maintains some punch on the concert stage. Standing ovations occurred regularly throughout the evening and the cheers were loud and long.

The occasion was a new grouping of the great jazz fusion unit Return to Forever, featuring longtime members Chick Corea on keyboards, Stanley Clarke on bass and Lenny White on drums. Joining them was longtime Corea bandmember Frank Gambale on guitar and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin. Ponty was the fresh wild card in the mix and he not only wove his melodic sound easily into the evening's music, but also fielded a great deal of adoration from the audience. You just don't get to see Ponty play very much and not in such an upbeat, creative environment.

And that's what Return to Forever is- an upbeat, creative environment. At the Paramount in Denver, the set list included some RTF standards as well as compositions by Ponty and Clarke but it didn't seem to matter which tune the band focused on- it was the communication between the players that mattered most. And the players in this version of Return to Forever- dubbed "IV"- seemed to be enjoying each other immensely. Clarke in particular ranged about the stage and made sure he connected with everybody- a jamming moment with Ponty, a friendly clash of stringwork with Gambale, synching deep into a groove with White and gazing knowlingly at Corea, his longtime musical foil. Clarke's smile was often broad and bright throughout the evening and that in itself went a long way to proving that there wasn't much animosity between these elite players- just musical fun.

It was funny- before this show, a writer in the Denver Post proposed to Corea that he must be the most prolific jazz keyboardist alive- in terms of playing more notes than anyone else. But forget just Corea- I would nominate Return to Forever as the band who has played the most notes in general- just between Corea, Clarke and White, they are a whirlwind of sound- but then add Gambale and Ponty in there and you have plenty of power and lots and lots of notes.

While you could call Return to Forever IV's show a triumph at the Paramount- ending in dramatic cheers and fistpumping from the crowd- they were only half of the show. The opening band was the Frank Zappa tribute band, Zappa Plays Zappa, lead by his son Dweezil. This eight-member unit labored with love recreating father Zappa's intricate and madcap music, jumping from complicated musical figure to complicated musical figure with ease. You could tell that this group gained its power from not only accomplishing the difficult task of playing the music, but also from doing it with some freshness and contemporary style. Just the fact that they were all on the same page musically was a good place to start, but then it became clear that being in the middle of this music wasn't just a chore to be accomplished but was also fun. Damn, I'd be happy if I could master all of that instrumental precision alone, but to really be part of a group that was all doing it at the same time has got to be a strong rush.

You might say that the audience reaction to Zappa Plays Zappa was even stronger than the response to Return to Forever. But this is just splitting hairs. The bottom line here is that progressive instrumental- and just plain mental- music is alive and well and there are still fans who are willing to cheer a blinding exchange of instrumental prowess, with or without a connection to commercial popularity. Return to Forever? Return to Play Me More is more like it.