Stanley Clarke pays tribute to pioneering fusion bands

Nearly 40 years after forming the pioneering fusion act Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea remain good friends—and sometimes friendly rivals, most recently for the sonic favours of the young Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara. Corea wooed her first, recording the live Duet in 2008. But it didn’t take long for his bass-playing counterpart to add Uehara, whose own band was a surprise hit at the 2009 edition of the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, to his long list of musical partners.

“Chick turned me on to Hiromi, although I’d met her in London many, many years ago,” Clarke explains, on the line from his L.A. home. “I knew she was a very good pianist. But then Chick told me about...

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