The story behind puzzle No. 27
Chick Corea & Return to Forever · Light as a Feather · Polydor · 1972 (released 1973)
It begins with a slow melody borrowed from a classical guitar concerto. Then the band hits the gas.
Chick Corea wrote Spain in 1971 and recorded it with Return to Forever at IBC Studios in London in October 1972. Light as a Feather came out on Polydor in January 1973, the first studio album credited to Chick Corea and Return to Forever.
The introduction comes from the adagio of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, written for guitar in 1939. After it, the band launches into a fast, steady, samba-like rhythm.
The original recording earned two Grammy nominations. Al Jarreau added lyrics as Spain (I Can Recall) on his 1980 album This Time, and in 2001 Corea won a Grammy for a new arrangement for sextet and orchestra.
Who's on it
Keep listening
Play Birdland, puzzle No. 20, for another side of 1970s jazz fusion.
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