Home to Spain. Light as a Feather is Return to Forever’s 1973 album: an airy, melodic Latin-jazz classic, and one of the most beloved records in all of fusion.

The short version

The 1973 second album by Return to Forever, and a beloved classic of Latin-flavoured jazz-fusion. Led by keyboardist Chick Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke, with flautist and saxophonist Joe Farrell, vocalist Flora Purim and percussionist Airto Moreira, it is airy, melodic and Brazilian-tinged. Home to Corea’s best-known composition, Spain, and the standard 500 Miles High, it is one of the most accessible and enduring records in all of fusion.

The Brazilian-jazz classic

Before Return to Forever became an electric powerhouse, they were an airy, Brazilian-flavoured jazz group, and Light as a Feather is that first incarnation’s masterpiece. Led by keyboardist and composer Chick Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke, and featuring flautist and saxophonist Joe Farrell, vocalist Flora Purim and percussionist Airto Moreira, it trades rock muscle for melody, warmth and Latin rhythm — there are no guitars here at all. Built around Corea’s Fender Rhodes and a set of gorgeous, sunlit compositions, it won the Playboy Jazz Album of the Year and became one of the most beloved records in the genre.

The sound

Airy, melodic and Brazilian-tinged jazz-fusion, built on warmth and effortless grace rather than power. Chick Corea’s Fender Rhodes electric piano leads the way through gorgeous, sunlit melodies, Stanley Clarke’s bass is both supple and virtuosic, Joe Farrell’s flute and saxophone add lyrical colour, and the Brazilian rhythms of percussionist Airto Moreira give everything a gentle samba lift. Above it all float the wordless, in-the-clouds vocals of Flora Purim. Sophisticated yet accessible, it is fusion at its most joyful and inviting.

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The songs

The album opens with the graceful You’re Everything and the ten-minute title track Light as a Feather, before Captain Marvel picks up the pace with a steamy fusion samba. The beautiful 500 Miles High became one of Flora Purim’s signature songs, but the album’s centrepiece is its closer, Spain — Chick Corea’s most famous composition, which opens by quoting a theme from Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez before blossoming into a joyous, flamenco-tinged classic that became a jazz standard.

Reception and legacy

Light as a Feather was enthusiastically received on release and won the Playboy Jazz Album of the Year, and its reputation has only grown. Spain and 500 Miles High have become jazz standards, covered countless times, and the album as a whole stands as one of the most beloved and accessible records in all of fusion. Corea would soon reshape the band toward a harder, electric direction, but Light as a Feather remains a perfect, sunlit snapshot of Return to Forever at their most melodic.

The verdict

An airy, melodic and utterly joyful album, and one of the most beloved classics of Latin jazz-fusion: gorgeous compositions, effortless musicianship and Brazilian warmth, led by Chick Corea’s Fender Rhodes. Come to it for the immortal Spain, the beautiful 500 Miles High and the graceful title track. It is the gentle, acoustic counterpart to the electric fire of Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy — and for many listeners, the perfect entry point into Return to Forever and fusion as a whole.

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