The Chick Corea Elektric Band-The Chick Corea Elektric Band (1986)

Nearly ten years after Return to Forever's last album, Chick Corea founded a new band, almost identical to its predecessor but with new members, a new (and not so new) style of jazz, and a different approach to a genre in which he was a consummate master. It was the mid-eighties, and the Massachusetts-born pianist formed The Chick Corea Elektric Band with guitarist Scott Henderson, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Dave Welck, releasing their self-titled album, "The Chick Corea Elektric Band", in 1986. This first album did not yet feature the more classic lineup that would later include Welck and Patitucci, as well as guitarist Frank Gambale and saxophonist Eric Marienthal, in addition to, of course, Chick Corea himself. Unlike the style of Return to Forever, this "electrified" version of the band didn't showcase the avant-garde jazz-rock sounds of RTF, although it did retain, to some extent, the experimentation so characteristic of almost all of Corea's work. On this debut, the Latin jazz track "Rumble" stood out, with Welck and Patitucci delivering superb work on the rhythm section while Corea emulated the style of Joe Zawinul. The jazz fusion "Cool Weasel Boogie", the jazz-rock "King Cockroach", the hypnotic "Side Walk", and the guitar-driven "Go Match?" featuring a Welck in top form, give way to the more solemn "India Town", with its exotic sounds and ambient synthesizer passages.