Musicmagic

1977 studio album by Return to Forever

Musicmagic

Studio album by

Return to Forever

Released

1977

Recorded

January–February 1977

Studio

Caribou Ranch (Nederland, Colorado)

Genre

Jazz-rock

Length

41:51

Label

Columbia

Producer

Return to Forever

Return to Forever chronology

Romantic Warrior
(1976)

Musicmagic
(1977)

Live
(1977)

Chick Corea chronology

My Spanish Heart
(1976)

Musicmagic
(1977)

Live
(1977)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Record Mirror	^[2]

Musicmagic is a studio album by fusion band Return to Forever, their final work until 2008.

This album contains the final line-up of the band from the 1970s, with only founders Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke returning from the previous album.^[3] This is the first album since Light as a Feather (1973) to contain vocals, featuring Stanley Clarke and Corea's wife Gayle Moran. This album also marks the return of original member Joe Farrell on saxophone and flute, along with several new members making up a five-piece horn section.

In addition to the conventional two channel stereo version the album was also released by Columbia in a four channel quadraphonic version in 1977 as one of the last quadraphonic albums released by the label. In 2016 the album was re-issued in stereo on hybrid Super Audio CD by Audio Fidelity. It was re-issued again on SACD by Dutton Vocalion in 2017 containing both the quadraphonic and stereo mixes.

With the addition of trombonist Ron Moss, this lineup toured and recorded the live album Live (1977) which was re-issued in 1978 as a 4-LP set called Return to Forever Live: The Complete Concert.

Track listing

"The Musician" (Chick Corea) – 7:12
"Hello Again" (Stanley Clarke) – 3:49
"Musicmagic" (Corea, Gayle Moran) – 11:00
"So Long Mickey Mouse" (Clarke) – 6:09
"Do You Ever" (Moran) – 3:59
"The Endless Night" (Corea, Moran) – 9:41

Personnel

Chick Corea – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hohner clavinet, synthesizers (ARP Odyssey, Minimoog, Polymoog, Moog 15 modular), vocals
Gayle Moran – acoustic piano, Hammond B3 organ, Polymoog, vocals
Joe Farrell – piccolo flute, flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
James Tinsley – piccolo trumpet, trumpet
John Thomas – trumpet, flugelhorn
James E. Pugh – tenor trombone
Harold Garret – tenor trombone, bass trombone, baritone horn
Stanley Clarke – electric bass, acoustic bass, vocals
Gerry Brown – drums

Chart performance

Year	Chart	Position
1977	Billboard 200^[4]	38
1977	Billboard Jazz Albums^[4]	4

References

^ Elias, Jason. "Return to Forever - Musicmagic (1977) album review | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
^ Bradman, Tony (30 April 1977). "Albums: Return to Forever – Musicmagic" (PDF). Record Mirror. London: Spotlight Publications Ltd. p. 22. ISSN 0144-5804. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023 – via World Radio History.
^ Burger, David (29 May 2008). "Jazz: Sounds like they've been together forever". The Salt LakeTribune.
^ ^a ^b "Return to Forever - Musicmagic (1977) | Awards | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 27 October 2013.

External links

Return to Forever - Musicmagic (1977) album releases & credits at Discogs
Return to Forever - Musicmagic (1977) album credits & user reviews at ProgArchives.com

Return to Forever

Joe Farrell
Airto Moreira
Flora Purim
Bill Connors
Steve Gadd
Mingo Lewis
Earl Klugh
Al Di Meola
Gerry Brown
Harold Garrett
Gayle Moran
James E. Pugh
John Thomas
James Tinsley
Ron Moss

Studio albums

Live albums

Return to Forever Live / ...Live: The Complete Concert
Returns
The Mothership Returns

Compilations

The Best of Return to Forever (1980) Sony
This is Jazz, Vol. 12 (1996) Sony
Return to the Seventh Galaxy: The Anthology (1996) Verve
Return to Forever: The Anthology (2008) Concord
Return to Forever: The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (2011) Sony

Videos

Return to Forever: Returns - Live at Montreux (2009)

Captain Marvel (1972) Verve
Forever (Corea, Clarke & White) (2011) Concord

v t e Chick Corea
Chick Corea discography
As leader	Tones for Joan's Bones (1968) Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (1968) Circling In (1975) Is (1969) Sundance (1972) The Song of Singing (1970) A.R.C. (1971) (with Dave Holland & Barry Altschul) The Leprechaun (1976) My Spanish Heart (1976) The Mad Hatter (1978) Secret Agent (1978) Friends (1978) Tap Step (1980) Three Quartets (1981) Trio Music (1982) Touchstone (1982) Again and Again (1983) Summer Night: Live (1987) (with Akoustic Band) Chick Corea Akoustic Band (1989) (with Akoustic Band) Alive (1991) (with Akoustic Band) Seabreeze (1993) (with Gayle Moran & Lionel Hampton) Time Warp (1995) Remembering Bud Powell (1996) Rendezvous in New York (2003) The Ultimate Adventure (2006) Super Trio - Live at the One World Theatre, April 3rd, 2005 (2006) (with Steve Gadd & Christian McBride) Five Peace Band Live (2009) (with John McLaughlin) Further Explorations (2012) The Continents: Concerto for Jazz Quintet & Chamber Orchestra (2012) The Vigil (2013) Trilogy (2013) (with Chick Corea Trio) The Musician: Live at The Blue Note Jazz Café (2016) Chinese Butterfly (2017) (with Steve Gadd) Trilogy 2 (2019)(with Chick Corea Trio) Antidote (2019)
Solo piano albums	Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 (1971) Piano Improvisations Vol. 2 (1972) Delphi I (1979) Delphi II & III (1980) Children's Songs (1984) Expressions (1994) Solo Piano: Originals (2000) Solo Piano: Standards (2000) Solo Piano – Portraits (2014) Plays (2020)
Duos	An Evening with Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea: In Concert (1978) CoreaHancock (1979) Chick Corea & Lionel Hampton in Concert (1980) Voyage (1984) [with Steve Kujala] Play (1992) (with Bobby McFerrin) The Enchantment (2007) (with Béla Fleck) Duet (2008) (with Hiromi Uehara) Orvieto (2010) (with Stefano Bollani) Two (2015) [with Béla Fleck]
with Gary Burton	Crystal Silence (1972) Duet (1979) In Concert, Zürich, October 28, 1979 (1980) Lyric Suite for Sextet (1982) Native Sense - The New Duets (1997) The New Crystal Silence (2008) Hot House (2012)
Circle	Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert (1970) Circle 2: Gathering (1971) Paris Concert (1972) Circling In (1975) Circulus (1978)
with Stanley Clarke	Children of Forever (1973) Journey to Love (1975) Rocks, Pebbles and Sand (1980) Up (2014)
with Miles Davis	Water Babies (1976) Filles de Kilimanjaro (1969) In a Silent Way (1969) Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 (2013) Bitches Brew (1970) Bitches Brew Live (2011) Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West (1977) Miles Davis at Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East (1970) Miles at the Fillmore – Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (2014) Jack Johnson (a.k.a. A Tribute to Jack Johnson) (1971) Circle in the Round (1979) Live-Evil (1971) On the Corner (1972) Big Fun (1974)
with Chick Corea Elektric Band	The Chick Corea Elektric Band (1986) Light Years (1987) Eye of the Beholder (1988) Inside Out (1990) Beneath the Mask (1991) Elektric Band II: Paint the World (1993) Live from Elario's (The First Gig) (1996) To the Stars (2004) Live in Tokyo 1987 (2017)
with Joe Farrell	Joe Farrell Quartet (1970) Outback (1971) Skate Board Park (1979)
with Stan Getz	Sweet Rain (1967) What the World Needs Now: Stan Getz Plays Burt Bacharach and Hal David (1968) Captain Marvel (1972)
with Joe Henderson	Relaxin' at Camarillo (1979) Mirror Mirror (1980) Joe Henderson: Big Band (1997)
with Hubert Laws	The Laws of Jazz (1964) Flute By-Laws (1966) Laws' Cause (1968) Wild Flower (1972) Family (1980) Blanchard: New Earth Sonata (1985)
with Herbie Mann	Herbie Mann Plays The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (1965) Monday Night at the Village Gate (1966) Latin Mann Afro to Bossa to Blues (1965) Standing Ovation at Newport (1965)
with Blue Mitchell	The Thing to Do (1964) Down with It! (1965) Boss Horn (1967)
with Origin	Live at the Blue Note (1998) A Week at The Blue Note (1998) Change (1999) corea.concerto: Spain for Sextet & Orchestra / Piano Concerto No. 1 (1999)
with Return to Forever	Return to Forever (1972) Light as a Feather (1973) Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973) Where Have I Known You Before (1974) No Mystery (1975) Romantic Warrior (1976) Musicmagic (1977) Live (1978) Returns (2009) Forever [as Corea, Clarke & White] (2011) The Mothership Returns (2012)
with Wayne Shorter	Super Nova (1969) Moto Grosso Feio (1974)
with others	Sonny Stitt: Stitt Goes Latin (1963) Dave Pike: Manhattan Latin (1964) Cal Tjader: Soul Burst (1966) Pete La Roca: Turkish Women at the Bath (1967) Donald Byrd: The Creeper (1981) Eric Kloss: To Hear Is to See! (1969) Eric Kloss: Consciousness! (1970) Larry Coryell: Spaces (1970) Sadao Watanabe: Round Trip (1970) Marion Brown: Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (1970) Richard Davis: The Philosophy of the Spiritual (1971) Rolf Kühn Jazzgroup: Going to the Rainbow (1971) John Surman: Conflagration (1971) Elvin Jones: Merry-Go-Round (1972) Airto Moreira: Free (1972) Anthony Braxton: The Complete Braxton (1973) Richard Davis: With Understanding (1975) Dee Dee Bridgewater: Just Family (1977) Ron Carter: Parade (1979) Gábor Szabó: Femme Fatale (1979) Tete Montoliu: Lunch in L.A. (1980) Chaka Khan et al.: Echoes of an Era (1982) Elektric Band II: Paint the World (1993) Like Minds (1998) (with Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, Dave Holland) Herbie Hancock: Gershwin's World (1998) Avishai Cohen: Lyla (2003) Miroslav Vitouš: Universal Syncopations (2003) Antonio Sánchez: Migration (2007) Hans Glawischnig: Panorama (2008)
Compilations	Inner Space (1973) The Complete "Is" Sessions (2002) Chick Corea/Herbie Hancock/Keith Jarret/McCoy Tyner (1976) Chick Corea Compact Jazz (1987) Best of Chick Corea (1993) Selected Recordings (2002) Very Best of Chick Corea (2004) Herbie Mann-Chick Corea: The Complete Latin Band Sessions (2007) Electric Chick (2008)
Soundtracks	Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown (1989)