Ho, brave traveller! Wherefore dost thou haste? Thou seem’st to have covered many miles, but this storm would detain the gods themselves—come; tarry a moment by the fire, and regale us of thy travels…

I'm in an unfortunate hurry this week, so let me get straight to the point: Romantic Warrior is a 1976 jazz fusion album by Return to Forever, a group founded by Chick Corea. Corea is one of those big names in late 20^th century jazz that I don't think we've encountered so far. My assessment of Romantic Warrior is remarkably similar to Birds of Fire; namely, Romantic Warrior is:

• Completely awesome;
• a singular, cohesive prog masterpiece;
• …not jazz?

I've listened to a lot more rock than jazz in my time, and let me tell you, this is rockin’:

I'm sure those more musically-discerning than I can give meticulous explanations as to why this should be counted among the jazz canon, but I'm still not able to really feel that for myself yet. Of course, that didn't stop this album from winning me over on first listen—I am obsessed with the deep bass in "The Romantic Warrior," and I am delighted that the band wasn't too self-serious to inject some whimsy with "The Magician". (Come to think of it, the way that track expressly develops a distinct character reminds me of Holst's The Planets, which of course has a magician of its own.)

But if you only take one thing away from this article, let it be this plea: where are the indie games built around jazz fusion soundtracks? Romantic Warrior is an enthralling listening experience—it evokes such rich imagery that while it doesn't need a visual accompaniment, it would make for an even more immersive adventure. Make me the Man of La Mancha and let me tilt at windmills while the guitar solos wail!

One more unusual connection to highlight before we depart: when investigating fellow jazz fusionists Mahavishnu Orchestra, we learned that they were inspired by Sri Chinmoy, a religious leader somewhat outside mainstream practice. Romantic Warrior has similar "outré" spiritual inspirations: the album is dedicated to L. Ron Hubbard, because Chick Corea was a devout Scientologist. Amazingly, this isn't even his most Scientology-ist jazz work: Corea played on an album literally called Space Jazz (the "soundtrack" for one of Hubbard's books), and though I have little inclination to support that particular organization, "space jazz" is exactly the kind of music I want to listen to.

So, overall: Romantic Warrior is another jazz fusion album earning top marks from me—and one that I will surely be returning to, forever.

Favourite track: The Romantic Warrior