Return

Bill Connors | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 1, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Tone Center
• ASIN: B00076YPHQ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #209,997 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. On The Edge

2. Mr Cool

3. McMinor

4. Mind Over Matter

5. Minor Matters

6. Try Tone Today

7. Terrabill Blues

8. Nobody Yet To

9. It Be Fm

10. Brasilia

Editorial Reviews

Bill Connors is a jazz guitar legend having been a founding member of Chick Corea’s Return to Forever and a highly regarded solo artist. It has been over 15 years since Bill has made a record and rumors of a comeback record from Bill have piqued the curiosity of jazz/fusion fans worldwide who have not forgotten the impact that Bill has had on jazz/fusion guitar. Connors has delivered perhaps his most impressive work to date and writers and reviewers in the genre have celebrated the chance to spread the good word about one of their heroes whose comeback record reveals Connors to be performing better than ever.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Connors Returns with Magnum Opus, February 17, 2005

By 

James Scott "fusionhead" (Fredericksburg, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Return (Audio CD)

Known for his ground breaking work as the original guitarist for Return to Forever and his seminal acoustic guitar explorations for ECM, Bill Connors newest effort is perhaps his best work to date. While most fusion projects utilize a distorted guitar sound pitted against complex rhythm sections, Connors forgoes his rack of effects to uncover the sonic intricacies of a Gibson L5 matched with his own hand built amp. Do not construe the purity of his tone as an attempt to produce a straight ahead Jazz album. There is nothing archaic or antiquated about this recording. This is contemporary improvised music performed at the highest possible level imaginable. Connors solos are both sophisticated and moving, blending his flawless technique with an emotional element missing in most recordings of this genre. Pianist Bill O'Connell not only complements the guitarist's brilliant solos, but pushes Connors to heights rarely reached on studio recordings. Bassist Lincoln Goines, drummer Kim Plainfield, and Myra Casales round off this band of exceptional musicians. Together they create an eclectic synthesis of Jazz, Rock, and Blues where the sum is always much greater than the styles which are integrated. Connors, who for the last 30 years has been overlooked and underappreciated by the music industry, has produced an album that is sure to correct this inexcusable oversight. Return is more than a comeback album, its sets a standard and raises the bar, for others to try to emulate.

James W. Scott
History Teacher
Fredericksburg Tx

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Progressives as inflexible as traditionalists, December 13, 2005

By 

Charles M. Daniel (Missouri City, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Return (Audio CD)

It's astounding to me how the spaced out, LSD inspired, cosmic, post-hippy, jazz-fusion crowd have exposed themselves to be as inflexible to change as are the jazz purists. The reading of this poor guitarist's fans reviews of this album is proof positive of the former statement. Well I grew up listening to Mahavishnu Orch., Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke, Frank Zappa and all the other Dieties of the screaming guitar solo just like my fellow reviewers. Fortunately, unlike my esteemed collegues, I took the time to appreciate other facets of the art form called jazz.

Forget what the ney sayers have to say about this album. This artist simply chose a change pace one time and what does he get?! OOOOH! He sounds like Pat Martino! OOOOOO! I wish someone would accuse me of sounding like Pat Martino! My God! What a compliment! Considering that this particular jazz idiom is not Bill's mainstay, comparing his sound here to Pat Martino only highlights Bill's versatility, which was probably the point of the creation of the album in the first place.

All the screaming, howling, mechanical playing, psuedo shreader, Steve Vai wannabes that are mentioned by the other reviewers here, never saw a "real" jazz chord progression that they could follow. Those other guys are the Gods of rehearsed solos. All of their facy licks where manufactured way in advance of their recording/concerts performances. And that "includes" Al DeMiola with McLaughlin being the exception to the rule.

With this recording Bill proves that he can do the "Now, Here's Something Completely Different" thing. And he pulls it off quite nicely if you ask me! See if any of the other so-called guitar gods would care to try. Let's see if any of them would be good enough to envoke the name of Pat Martino. I think not! Those guys are way too satisfied playing screaming solos to whole note rhythmed chord progressions to even try.

So for you fans of Bill that don't like this album - Let this be a lesson to you! Never do the Mesciline until you've heard the album at least once. We wouldn't want you to miss the collidascope colors!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back to Basics, June 25, 2008

By 

Z. Oliver "Aloha" (Honolulu) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Return (Audio CD)

Let me start out by saying that I love Jazz and Rock. Also, I don't mind distorted guitar. I like Holdsworth. I like Connor's '80s records (Assembler, Double Up, and Step It). I think they have a real directness and rawness.

This album, as you can tell by my stars, is perhaps even better, but completely different. I feel that this record is more direct, solid, and steady from track to track.

The distortion and harmonizers are gone. What's left is an awesome deep clean guitar sound. The legato isn't as apparent, if even present at all. Instead, listeners are treated to an almost straight ahead jazz album. I say "almost" because there is still something raw present that hints at rock. Perhaps it's the stripped setting, the attention to band riffs, and the strong rhythmic content.

If there is a reader on the edge on this one and knows guitar jazz albums for reference, then I'd say Scofield's "Works for Me" is in a similar conscious. Personally, I love this album and it keeps getting stolen by friends out of my car, so it can't be too bad...