No Mystery
Encyclopedia
No Mystery is the fifth studio album by influential jazz-rock fusion
band Return to Forever
.
Return to Forever's fifth album is their most varied. While the production is similar to the album's predecessor, Where Have I Known You Before
, the sheer variety of compositions gives this record a distinctly different feel. All members of the group contributed compositions to this album. Side A contains heavily funk-influenced material composed by each member of the group, whereas Side B is filled by Chick Corea compositions, beginning with the acoustic title track and ending with the epic "Celebration Suite". The group won the Best Jazz Performance by a Group Grammy Award
in 1975 for this album.
The album begins with the Stanley Clarke composition "Dayride", which is in the jazz-funk vein that he would explore further on his solo recordings. The next track, "Jungle Waterfall", was co-composed by Corea and Clarke. Like "Dayride", it is a funky piece with a strong melody. The third song is Di Meola's first recorded composition, entitled "Flight of the Newborn". It is a longer song, with a laid-back, swaggering groove, and ample space for solos. Di Meola's solos are possibly some of the first examples of true shredding
recorded with electric guitar - an approach he would expand on in later albums. The fourth track is Lenny White's "Sofistifunk", which seems to be based around a synthesizer's "sample and hold
" function, triggering random sequences of notes, while the bass and drums build syncopated rhythms around it. The last song on Side A bears the unusual title "Excerpt from the First Movement of Heavy Metal". While certainly not heavy metal
, the track features the band in a high-energy in-studio jam, bookended by Chick Corea's raucous, classically-influenced unaccompanied piano solo.
Side B begins with the title track, which is an acoustic Chick Corea composition. It has a very strong melody and features only few bars of improvisation. Slow, lyrical moments, in which Clarke plays with a bow, are followed by parts with rapid unison lines played by Corea and Di Meola. The following track is the short "Interplay" - an acoustic "conversation" between Corea's piano and Clarke's bass. The last 14 minutes of the album are taken by Corea's "Celebration Suite", which features a strong Spanish feel in its melody. The intro of the song features Corea on solo Yamaha organ, followed by marching-style snare drums played by Corea and Lenny White. This composition can be seen as the predecessor of the equally celebratory "Spanish Fantasy" from Corea's acclaimed solo album My Spanish Heart
.
with
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
band Return to Forever
Return to Forever
Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...
.
Return to Forever's fifth album is their most varied. While the production is similar to the album's predecessor, Where Have I Known You Before
Where Have I Known You Before
Where Have I Known You Before is the fourth album by Jazz-Rock Fusion band Return to Forever.While the style of music has not changed much since the previous album, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, important changes have taken place in the band's sound and line-up. Both keyboardist Chick Corea and...
, the sheer variety of compositions gives this record a distinctly different feel. All members of the group contributed compositions to this album. Side A contains heavily funk-influenced material composed by each member of the group, whereas Side B is filled by Chick Corea compositions, beginning with the acoustic title track and ending with the epic "Celebration Suite". The group won the Best Jazz Performance by a Group Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1975 for this album.
The album begins with the Stanley Clarke composition "Dayride", which is in the jazz-funk vein that he would explore further on his solo recordings. The next track, "Jungle Waterfall", was co-composed by Corea and Clarke. Like "Dayride", it is a funky piece with a strong melody. The third song is Di Meola's first recorded composition, entitled "Flight of the Newborn". It is a longer song, with a laid-back, swaggering groove, and ample space for solos. Di Meola's solos are possibly some of the first examples of true shredding
Shred guitar
Shred guitar or shredding is lead electric guitar playing that relies heavily on fast guitar solos. While some critics argue that shred guitar is associated with "... sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping and ... whammy-bar abuse", several guitar...
recorded with electric guitar - an approach he would expand on in later albums. The fourth track is Lenny White's "Sofistifunk", which seems to be based around a synthesizer's "sample and hold
Sample and hold
In electronics, a sample and hold circuit is an analog device that samples the voltage of a continuously varying analog signal and holds its value at a constant level for a specified minimal period of time. Sample and hold circuits and related peak detectors are the elementary analog memory...
" function, triggering random sequences of notes, while the bass and drums build syncopated rhythms around it. The last song on Side A bears the unusual title "Excerpt from the First Movement of Heavy Metal". While certainly not heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, the track features the band in a high-energy in-studio jam, bookended by Chick Corea's raucous, classically-influenced unaccompanied piano solo.
Side B begins with the title track, which is an acoustic Chick Corea composition. It has a very strong melody and features only few bars of improvisation. Slow, lyrical moments, in which Clarke plays with a bow, are followed by parts with rapid unison lines played by Corea and Di Meola. The following track is the short "Interplay" - an acoustic "conversation" between Corea's piano and Clarke's bass. The last 14 minutes of the album are taken by Corea's "Celebration Suite", which features a strong Spanish feel in its melody. The intro of the song features Corea on solo Yamaha organ, followed by marching-style snare drums played by Corea and Lenny White. This composition can be seen as the predecessor of the equally celebratory "Spanish Fantasy" from Corea's acclaimed solo album My Spanish Heart
My Spanish Heart
My Spanish Heart is an album recorded by Chick Corea and released in 1976.The album combines jazz fusion pieces and more traditional Latin music pieces. The album includes use of full brass and string sections on some tracks. "El Bozo" suite relies heavily on the use of synthesizers while "Spanish...
.
Trivia
Stanley Clarke would later re-record "Dayride" with background vocals for his solo album Modern Man released in 1978.Track listing
- "Dayride" (Clarke) – 3:25
- "Jungle Waterfall" (Corea, Clarke) – 3:03
- "Flight of the Newborn" (Di Meola) – 7:23
- "Sofistifunk" (White) – 3:51
- "Excerpt from the First Movement of Heavy Metal" (Corea, Clarke, White, Di Meola) – 2:45
- "No Mystery" (Corea) – 6:10
- "Interplay" (Corea, Clarke) – 2:15
- "Celebration Suite part I" (Corea) – 8:27
- "Celebration Suite part II" (Corea) – 5:32
Personnel
- Chick CoreaChick CoreaArmando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
– acoustic pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, clavinetClavinetA Clavinet is an electrically amplified keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various...
, Yamaha organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s, snare drumSnare drumThe snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
, marimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Stanley ClarkeStanley ClarkeStanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
– electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, acoustic bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, Yamaha organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Lenny WhiteLenny WhiteLeonard White III, better known as Lenny White is an American jazz fusion drummer, who is best known for playing in Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, congas, marimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ... - Al Di MeolaAl Di MeolaAl Di Meola is an acclaimed American jazz fusion and Latin guitarist, composer, and record producer of Italian origin. With a musical career that has spanned more than three decades, he has become respected as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz to date...
– electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
with
- Shelly Yakus – engineer
- Tom Rabstenek – mastering
- Bill Levy – cover art direction