The Mothership Returns

2012 live album by Return to Forever

Live album by

Return to Forever

Released

June 18, 2012

Recorded

July 12, 2011,
September 13, 2011

Venue

Austin, Texas (September)
Montreux, Switzerland (July)

Genre

Jazz fusion

Length

112:30

Label

Eagle

Producer

Tim Cavanaugh, Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, Geoff Kempin, Adam Mason, Bill Rooney, Terry Shand, Lenny White

Return to Forever chronology

Forever
(2009)

The Mothership Returns
(2012)

Live in Japan 1983
(2021)

Chick Corea chronology

Hot House
(2012)

The Mothership Returns
(2012)

The Vigil
(2013)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	^[1]
AllMusic	^[2]

The Mothership Returns is a live two CD/single DVD set by the fusion band Return to Forever. Released 18 June 2012 by Eagle Rock Entertainment, it documents music performed during the 2011 tour, for which Return to Forever was expanded to a quintet with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White and new members Jean-Luc Ponty on violin and Frank Gambale on guitar. The album peaked #6 in the 2012 and 2013 Jazz Album charts.^[3]

Track listing

Disc one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Medieval Overture" (Chick Corea)	6:03
2.	"Senor Mouse" (Corea)	12:10
3.	"Shadow of Lo/Sorceress" (Lenny White)	16:05
4.	"Renaissance" (Jean-Luc Ponty)	19:40

Disc two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"After the Cosmic Rain" (Stanley Clarke)	16:52
2.	"The Romantic Warrior / Señor Blues" (Corea, Horace Silver)	18:20
3.	"Concierto de Aranjuez / Spain" (Corea, Joaquín Rodrigo)	8:12
4.	"School Days" (Clarke)	11:24
5.	"Beyond the Seventh Galaxy" (Corea)	3:44

DVD-Video

Inside the Music (film, documentary)
"After the Cosmic Rain" (Live, Austin, Texas)
"The Romantic Warrior" (Live, Montreux, Switzerland)
The Story of Return to Forever (sneak peek movie trailer)

Personnel

Musicians

Chick Corea – acoustic piano, keyboards
Stanley Clarke – double bass, electric bass
Lenny White – drums
Jean-Luc Ponty – violin
Frank Gambale – acoustic guitar, electric guitar

Production

Devin Villery – audio systems technician
Bernie Kirsch – monitor engineer
Travis Rogers – sound engineer
Tim Cavanaugh – producer
Stanley Clarke – co- & executive producer
Chick Corea – co- & executive producer
Geoff Kempin – executive producer
Terry Shand – executive producer
Lenny White – producer, executive producer
Terry Cooley – production manager
Rob Griffin – tour manager
Mick Guzauski – mixing
Buck Snow – mixing
Greg Calbi – mastering
Adam Mason – editing, producer
Kris Campbell – tour manager
Paul May – tour manager
James "McGoo" McGregor – stage technician
Brian Alexander – keyboard technician
Eric "Stretch" Hanson – bass technician
Jim Moran – drum technician
Matt Druzbik – lighting director
Evelyn Brechtlein – production coordination
Anna Robertson – production assistant
Librado Barocio – director
Dan Muse – liner note coordination
Liner notes by Chick Corea, Jean-Luc Ponty, Frank Gambale, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Robert Trujillo
Graphic design by Marc Bessant, Julie Rooney
Photography by Matt Bizer, Andrew Elliott, Martin Philby, Arne B. Rostad

Chart performance

Year	Chart	Position
2012	Billboard Jazz Albums	6 ^[3]

References

^ Kelman, John (19 June 2012). "Return to Forever - The Mothership Returns (2012) album review | All About Jazz". allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
^ Jurek, Thom. "Return to Forever - The Mothership Returns (2012) album review | AllMusic". allmusic.com.
^ ^a ^b "Return to Forever - The Mothership Returns (2012) | Awards | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 13 October 2013.

External links

Russ Davis (September 16, 2011). "RTF IV in Austin, Texas". JazzTimes.
Return to Forever - The Mothership Returns (2012) album review by Thom Jurek, credits & releases at AllMusic
Return to Forever - The Mothership Returns (2012) album credits & user reviews at ProgArchives.com
Return to Forever - The Mothership Returns (2012) album to be listened as stream on Spotify

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)