Concord

Reunite three founding members of the seminal fusion band Return To Forever and what do you get? An unplugged – surprise! – set consisting of jazz standards and RTF-penned tunes. The first disc of the double album was recorded live on the band’s 2009 world tour. It’s exhilarating to hear a band usually known for taking its electric instruments to the brink of the cosmos now pared down to its roots. In the opening sections of Bill Evans’s immortal “Waltz For Debby,” Chick Corea rises in register and chords and Stanley Clarke plays descending notes. The tonal contrast is beautiful and gives a sense of weightlessness to the music. This kind of intuitive playing – dig Lenny White’s accents in Corea’s “Bud Powell” – is prevalent throughout the recording. The second disc qualifies as a fantasy session. Original RTF guitarist Bill Connors joins for some cuts, as do Chaka Khan ( “High Wire,” “I Loves You, Porgy” ) and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. These rehearsal jams are often inspired ( “Armando’s Rhumba” ), yet the very best moment is a soaring live take on “500 Miles High.”