Loading...
Daniel's Collection

Return to Forever   04/08/1977

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
Source Mike Millard Master Tapes via JEMS and Goody
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 41

Recording Gear: AKG 451-E Microphones (CK-1 Capsules) > Nakamichi 550 Cassette Recorder

Transfer: Mike Millard Master Cassettes > Yamaha KX-W592 Cassette Deck > Sony R-500 DAT > Analog Master DAT Clone > Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 > Sound Forge Audio Studio 13.0 capture > Adobe Audition > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 6 > Audacity > TLH > FLAC
Checksums ;flac fingerprints generated by xACT 2.39 on 2020-07-25 14:50:25 -0500

01 The Endless Night.flac:59b04f007222aa79bb4e5f203a288b0a
02 The Musician.flac:49e742e3f5aa3b656ab510f7584b0a27
03 Hello Again.flac:535958740f5314d702342576c75a62db
04 So Long Mickey Mouse.flac:41cc1646dbd26ea45b6bffd7ab599e03
05 Musicmagic.flac:d4a553bcbf1733c94e18ff0b2a0a4bdf
06 Do You Ever.flac:072179f6155dd0296d8aa0809008f8fc
07 Come Rain Or Come Shine.flac:b8a9c4b63713c947097fd09586ee7aae
08 Serenade.flac:4c7e185b883cb08d8da82fb631437d91
09 The Moorish Warrior.flac:55d1db7531509f40b41b31d40bcf5068
10 Spanish Fantasy.flac:a035cd6bc02eda8e1212b9a1976558db
11 On Green Dolphin Street.flac:78cbb85bfba6836f5347263e1d5c0867
12 Musicmagic (Reprise).flac:e3cbe7bb1839e0ebd106137a71979b67

#MD5 checksums generated by xACT 2.39 on 2020-07-25 14:50:30 -0500

800b055990fe4c64b3b4e407fbe77bb4 *01 The Endless Night.flac
5408fbcda03c93e93fde2571ab1aa4ec *02 The Musician.flac
e38e3b8001528375058c5e2f0a853d15 *03 Hello Again.flac
39f0078f2d1957e10274440293d08e23 *04 So Long Mickey Mouse.flac
e29bf0ef41ec7179353789fccdbc3570 *05 Musicmagic.flac
4ad83751fd1ade369781025c44a241fd *06 Do You Ever.flac
36aa16e80efdc7d85267607e23addf50 *07 Come Rain Or Come Shine.flac
5ce72c2d8dbb96a051690340bc9aff82 *08 Serenade.flac
b8fe30c893440eb314deecfaa753ac3f *09 The Moorish Warrior.flac
eb7554b6f13d588f2f0ea2cf46684b7e *10 Spanish Fantasy.flac
495a619119284fe4de050457ede689dd *11 On Green Dolphin Street.flac
6d4003c5950e152cd242a6db8dd6fba1 *12 Musicmagic (Reprise).flac
Media
Notes I know what you’re thinking. “Millard recorded jazz?” Indeed he did, in fact several times. This was the final tour by the Musicmagic line-up led by Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, and featured a six-piece horn section plus Corea’s wife Gayle Moran on vocals.

The RTF ’77 tour spawned the group’s Live album, released later the same year and expanded to multiple LPs and CDs in the decades that followed. The Santa Monica set list matches the live album for the most part with the exception of the final encore song, which we are not savvy enough to identify. Please let us know what it is.

Mike’s recording is excellent and captures the full fidelity of the band and the enthusiasm of the crowd in fine balance. Like the best of his work, the capture is rich and especially powerful with the horns. The Santa Monica Civic is a great sounding room (why on earth did they stop doing concerts there) and from Orchestra Row D, Mike was right where he wanted to be. Samples provided.

Mike would go on to record DiMeola and Clarke solo shows over the years at a time when jazz-rock fusion was immensely popular. In hindsight, its puzzling the genre hasn’t continued to thrive.

Here’s what Jim R recalled about the Return To Forever show:

Mike and I attended the Return To Forever concert on April 8, 1977 at the Santa Monica Civic. We sat in the Orchestra Pit, Row D. As expected from being so close to the stage, the sound was fantastic.

Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke were virtuosos. Watching Clarke play bass with his long fingers was incredible. He made it look effortless.

Mike and I attended Return To Forever thanks to the constant prodding of Mike's high-school friend Jay, who was a drummer. Jay was steadfast in his praise of Return To Forever and the group’s individual members. When we saw that they were playing one of our favorite venues, The Civic, we had to go to see what all the fuss was about. Both Mike and I came away greatly impressed despite being only mildly familiar with the material.

In fact, this concert opened up a whole new genre to both of us. Later we attended and recorded as solo acts (a partial list): Stanley Clarke at The Roxy 1977, Lenny White at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, Al DiMeola a few times, Jean Luc Ponty and Chick Corea on multiple occasions.

We also caught Stanley again in 1979 when toured as part of the New Barbarians featuring Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. We recorded those local shows as well.

I did not take pictures. We stayed low key to fit in with the crowd.
Microphones AKG 451-E Microphones (CK-1 Capsules)
Trades Allowed Yes
Owned by Daniel · Last Updated Feb 7, 2026