This past weekend I had opportunity to see Return To Forever play at the Murat Theatre as part of their 2008 reunion tour. It was, quite simply, one of the best concerts I have ever seen.

Return To Forever hasn’t played as a group for 25 years, which means during their hay day I wasn’t even living. However, thanks to my dad, who has introduced me to so many great artists from the 70’s including Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson, Weather Report, Jaco Pastorious, etc., I was very familiar with the RTF catalog. We even went and saw Al Di Meola when he came to the Music Mill. This concert was only partly about seeing the group back together and rocking; this was my first opportunity to see one of the greatest bass players ever.

Stanley Clarke is a bass players bass player. Victor Wooten is amazing and a real showmen doing things that leave people asking “Is that even possible?” but a lot of it is flash. Stanley Clarke really draws out everything from whatever instrument he plays. He is a master of both the electric and the upright. He has unparalleled versatility when it comes to playing styles. He can lay down a blistering slap assault or play a super smooth melodic chord heavy line. Either way, he is stunning.

What really set this concert was the second act of the show. The group return to their roots and did an acoustic set. During the course of which, they each had a feature solo, each artist commanding his instrument, alone on the stage. Lenny White’s solo was interesting, but you had to be a drummer to get it. Chick proceeded to use a mallet to hit the piano strings with one hand, while playing with the other, apparently he is so amazingly good that traditional playing just doesn’t do it for him anymore. Al Di Meola is so fast, you need a high speed camera to capture all that he is doing. His solo on a classical guitar is the best guitar playing I have ever seen, and it will be almost impossible to top.

What Stanley did on his upright was mesmerizing. I think for most people, anytime you witness someone who is a true master of what they do, whether it is a painter or a soccer player, seeing someone who has such a deep understanding of how their skill works and being able to really utilize everything they can from it leaves you in awe. That is how good Stanley is. He made the instrument sing so effortlessly producing this amazing growl then retreating back to a subtle vibrato, it was incredible.

Seeing Return to Forever does what I think every concert should do; make you want to be a better musician. I know I will never be as good as Stanley Clarke, and I am ok with that. I just want to be able to play one of his solos or have some understanding about how he does what he does. Seeing him play makes me want to go home, grab my bass, and start practicing scales and putting chords under my fingers in hopes that one day I will be able to play the solo from ‘After the Cosmic Rain’

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