To the Stars (album)
Encyclopedia
To the Stars is an album by American jazz fusion
group the Chick Corea Elektric Band
, released on August 24, 2004 by Stretch Records
. Jazz
musician Chick Corea
, a longtime member of the Church of Scientology
, was inspired by Scientology
founder L. Ron Hubbard
's science fiction
1954 novel To the Stars
. Hubbard's book tells the story of an interstellar crew which experiences the effects of time dilation
due to traveling at near light speed
. A few days experienced by the ship's crew could amount to hundreds of years for their friends and family back on Earth.
Corea was influenced in particular by a scene from Hubbard's work where one of the main characters plays the piano, and he created the album as a tone poem piece. It was the first time members of his group Chick Corea Elektric Band had gotten together since 1991. Scientology-owned Galaxy Press
reissued the book at the same time as the album's release as a form of cross-marketing. Corea later produced another album, The Ultimate Adventure
, also inspired by and named after a work by Hubbard.
The album received mostly positive reviews. Christopher Blagg of the Boston Herald
commented: "Somewhere L. Ron Hubbard was smiling," and Mike Hobart of the Financial Times
described the album as "a fine programme of jazz-fusion". It reached number eight on the U.S. Top Contemporary Jazz charts in September 2004, and garnered Corea a 2004 Grammy Award
nomination for instrumental arrangement for the track "The Long Passage".
slows down time experienced for its occupants. The ship's members are affected by Albert Einstein
's time dilation
theory, and the Earth experiences hundreds of years while only a few days have passed for members of the ship. The crew have no family or friends on Earth due to the time that separates them. Of the album's 17 tracks, 10 are directly based on characters or concepts from the book. The protagonist of the book (scientist Alan Corday), the ship's captain (Captain Jocelyn), and the ship's name (Hound of Heaven) are all titles of tracks on the album. The other seven tracks are "Port Views", short musical interludes between the larger pieces.
Corea explains at his website how he was motivated to work on music inspired by To the Stars, commenting that he was inspired by a scene from the book in which Hubbard describes the Captain of the spaceship in the story playing a melody on a piano. He had read the book eight or nine times, and after writing down musical composition based on Hubbard's work the album was created as a tone poem piece. Previous tone poem albums by Corea include The Leprechaun (1975), My Spanish Heart (1976), and The Mad Hatter (1978). The piece is Corea's first attempt at musical interpretation from one of Hubbard's works.
"The attraction to me was not only the challenge of writing music portraying characters in a fiction book but the fact that I've had such an intimate connection with L. Ron Hubbard and his work in Scientology for 40 years now. I've been a fan of his fiction for 25 years, and once I started into the act of working with his creations, it had an extra special excitement to me," he said in an interview with The Washington Post
. "Aside from the content in his message, and the fact that he's the founder of the Church of Scientology and Dianetics, the thing I loved about Hubbard was the aesthetics of his writing. There is a musical wavelength to what he does," said Corea to The San Diego Union-Tribune
.
John Patitucci
, drummer
Dave Weckl
, saxophonist
Eric Marienthal
and guitar
ist Frank Gambale
. Gambale's electric guitar
playing figures prominently in some of the tracks. In a statement in The Harvard Crimson
, Corea commented that To the Stars represented a synergy of his three greatest passions: "My passion as a composer/performer, my passion for the Elektric Band as a perfect orchestra, and my passion for L. Ron Hubbard as the ideal artist." The album is his "favorite recording" out of his almost one hundred album discography
.
Mike Manoogian designed the cover and book design for the 2004 hardcover edition of the novel To the Stars, and the artwork is copyrighted by the L. Ron Hubbard Library. The album cover utilizes the same design as the novel.
The novel To the Stars was reissued by Scientology-owned Galaxy Press at the same time as the album as a form of cross-marketing. According to Publishers Weekly
, Corea's soundtrack to the novel was issued by Galaxy Press to give the company's "enormous marketing muscle" the ability to "tap into the vast Hubbard fan base".
Corea's 2004 piece "The Adventures of Hippocrates" was inspired by a robot like character named "Hippocrates" from Hubbard's science fiction series Ole Doc Methuselah. Corea would go on to compose another album in 2006, The Ultimate Adventure
, also inspired by and named after a book by Hubbard, which earned him two Grammy Award
s.
magazine's Top Contemporary Jazz
charts in September 2004, and Corea earned a 2004 Grammy Award nomination for instrumental arrangement for the track "The Long Passage". The album received a rating of three stars from Allmusic, three stars from The Observer
, three and a half stars from The Star-Ledger
, and four stars from The Times
. In a review of the work in The Washington Post, Geoffrey Himes writes that "Corea occasionally falls into his old bad habits of jazz-rock fusion excess, substituting frenetic virtuosity for melodic content and emotional connection on tunes such as the album-opening 'Check Blast' and 'Hound of Heaven.'" Himes highlights Corea's compositions of the seven "Port View" interludes, and calls "Alan Corday" the best piece on the album. Mike Joyce of The Washington Post also appreciated the "flamenco
-tinged ballad" of the "Alan Corday" track. Christopher Blagg of the Boston Herald
liked "the dense electrified samba of the joyous 'Mistress Luck - The Party'", and commented: "Somewhere L. Ron Hubbard was smiling." Bob Young of the Boston Herald described the album as "music that shifts continually from bright, aggressive jazz fusion to melodic tranquility and back again". James F. Collins gave the album a positive review in The Harvard Crimson, writing: "To The Stars is a testament to his [Corea's] unflagging creativity and is a proud addition to his already expansive discography." Mike Hobart reviewed the album for Financial Times
, commenting that "once the band had delivered its first unison riff, the music's inspirational source was irrelevant as a fine programme of jazz-fusion poured out".
In his review of the album, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times
writes: "I did like the driving, collective muscle of the band, though, very much," but he also describes its aesthetics as "cluttered and gaudy". For PopMatters, Associate Music Editor Justin Cober-Lake writes: "In many ways, it's a supreme accomplishment with difficult technique passages and broad soundscapes; on the other hand, it's a journey that's too long to take." In his review of Corea's later work The Ultimate Adventure, Will Friedwald of The New York Sun writes: "'To the Stars' was trite, electronic bubblegum music that sounded like a cheesy video-game soundtrack." Writing in The Times, John Bungey comments that "many of the pieces are straitjacketed into the cosmic concept", concluding his review with: "If you prefer hi-fi to sci-fi, then you will be hoping that Corea leaves the space helmet at home next time." John L. Walters gave the album a negative review in The Guardian
, writing that the album "cries out for warning stickers - 'this album contains dangerously high levels of Scientology'", and that it "drags some perfectly fine jazz musicians ... through conceptual purgatory".
Additional personnel
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
group the Chick Corea Elektric Band
Chick Corea Elektric Band
Chick Corea Elektric Band is a jazz fusion band, led by pianist Chick Corea. Following the demise of Return to Forever, Corea established the musical ensemble in 1986. Following a long hiatus, the band reunited to produce "To the Stars" in 2004....
, released on August 24, 2004 by Stretch Records
Stretch Records
Stretch Records was established in 1997 by pianist/composer/producer Chick Corea and music industry veteran Ron Moss.The label claims to promote "music with no boundaries" though it has mostly released jazz music....
. Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, a longtime member of the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
, was inspired by Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
founder L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
's science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
1954 novel To the Stars
To the Stars (novel)
To the Stars is a science fiction novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The novel's story is set in a dystopian future, and chronicles the experiences of protagonist Alan Corday aboard a starship called the Hound of Heaven as he copes with the travails of time dilation from traveling at near...
. Hubbard's book tells the story of an interstellar crew which experiences the effects of time dilation
Time dilation
In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an observed difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses. An accurate clock at rest with respect to one observer may be measured to tick at...
due to traveling at near light speed
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
. A few days experienced by the ship's crew could amount to hundreds of years for their friends and family back on Earth.
Corea was influenced in particular by a scene from Hubbard's work where one of the main characters plays the piano, and he created the album as a tone poem piece. It was the first time members of his group Chick Corea Elektric Band had gotten together since 1991. Scientology-owned Galaxy Press
Galaxy Press
Galaxy Press is a trade name set up to publish and promote the fiction worksof L. Ron Hubbard, and the anthologies of the L. Ron HubbardWriters of the Future contest....
reissued the book at the same time as the album's release as a form of cross-marketing. Corea later produced another album, The Ultimate Adventure
The Ultimate Adventure
The Ultimate Adventure is an album recorded by Chick Corea and released in 2006.Like his 2004 album To the Stars, The Ultimate Adventure is a musical tribute to the work of science fiction author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard...
, also inspired by and named after a work by Hubbard.
The album received mostly positive reviews. Christopher Blagg of the Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
commented: "Somewhere L. Ron Hubbard was smiling," and Mike Hobart of the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
described the album as "a fine programme of jazz-fusion". It reached number eight on the U.S. Top Contemporary Jazz charts in September 2004, and garnered Corea a 2004 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination for instrumental arrangement for the track "The Long Passage".
Inspiration
Hubbard's To the Stars depicts a future where an interstellar ship travelling at near light speedSpeed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
slows down time experienced for its occupants. The ship's members are affected by Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
's time dilation
Time dilation
In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an observed difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses. An accurate clock at rest with respect to one observer may be measured to tick at...
theory, and the Earth experiences hundreds of years while only a few days have passed for members of the ship. The crew have no family or friends on Earth due to the time that separates them. Of the album's 17 tracks, 10 are directly based on characters or concepts from the book. The protagonist of the book (scientist Alan Corday), the ship's captain (Captain Jocelyn), and the ship's name (Hound of Heaven) are all titles of tracks on the album. The other seven tracks are "Port Views", short musical interludes between the larger pieces.
Corea explains at his website how he was motivated to work on music inspired by To the Stars, commenting that he was inspired by a scene from the book in which Hubbard describes the Captain of the spaceship in the story playing a melody on a piano. He had read the book eight or nine times, and after writing down musical composition based on Hubbard's work the album was created as a tone poem piece. Previous tone poem albums by Corea include The Leprechaun (1975), My Spanish Heart (1976), and The Mad Hatter (1978). The piece is Corea's first attempt at musical interpretation from one of Hubbard's works.
"The attraction to me was not only the challenge of writing music portraying characters in a fiction book but the fact that I've had such an intimate connection with L. Ron Hubbard and his work in Scientology for 40 years now. I've been a fan of his fiction for 25 years, and once I started into the act of working with his creations, it had an extra special excitement to me," he said in an interview with The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. "Aside from the content in his message, and the fact that he's the founder of the Church of Scientology and Dianetics, the thing I loved about Hubbard was the aesthetics of his writing. There is a musical wavelength to what he does," said Corea to The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union-Tribune
-Predecessors:The predecessor newspapers of the Union-Tribune were:* San Diego Sun, founded 1861 and merged with the Evening Tribune in 1939.* San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868.* Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895.-Ownership:...
.
Production
Corea brought together the original members of Chick Corea Elektric Band for the first time since 1991, including bassistBass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
John Patitucci
John Patitucci
John Patitucci is an American Grammy-winning jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player.-Biography:Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at...
, drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Dave Weckl
Dave Weckl
Dave Weckl is a highly acclaimed jazz fusion drummer. Weckl attended Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, MO and graduated in 1978. He majored in jazz studies at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut...
, saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Eric Marienthal
Eric Marienthal
Eric Marienthal is a Los Angeles-based contemporary saxophonist best known for his work in the jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, and pop genres....
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist Frank Gambale
Frank Gambale
Frank Gambale is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released eleven studio albums over a period of more than two decades, and is renowned for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques.-Recording career:...
. Gambale's electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
playing figures prominently in some of the tracks. In a statement in The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
, Corea commented that To the Stars represented a synergy of his three greatest passions: "My passion as a composer/performer, my passion for the Elektric Band as a perfect orchestra, and my passion for L. Ron Hubbard as the ideal artist." The album is his "favorite recording" out of his almost one hundred album discography
Discography
Discography is the study and listing of the details concerning sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified musical genres...
.
Mike Manoogian designed the cover and book design for the 2004 hardcover edition of the novel To the Stars, and the artwork is copyrighted by the L. Ron Hubbard Library. The album cover utilizes the same design as the novel.
The novel To the Stars was reissued by Scientology-owned Galaxy Press at the same time as the album as a form of cross-marketing. According to Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
, Corea's soundtrack to the novel was issued by Galaxy Press to give the company's "enormous marketing muscle" the ability to "tap into the vast Hubbard fan base".
Corea's 2004 piece "The Adventures of Hippocrates" was inspired by a robot like character named "Hippocrates" from Hubbard's science fiction series Ole Doc Methuselah. Corea would go on to compose another album in 2006, The Ultimate Adventure
The Ultimate Adventure
The Ultimate Adventure is an album recorded by Chick Corea and released in 2006.Like his 2004 album To the Stars, The Ultimate Adventure is a musical tribute to the work of science fiction author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard...
, also inspired by and named after a book by Hubbard, which earned him two Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s.
Reception
The album reached number eight on BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine's Top Contemporary Jazz
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
charts in September 2004, and Corea earned a 2004 Grammy Award nomination for instrumental arrangement for the track "The Long Passage". The album received a rating of three stars from Allmusic, three stars from The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, three and a half stars from The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
, and four stars from The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. In a review of the work in The Washington Post, Geoffrey Himes writes that "Corea occasionally falls into his old bad habits of jazz-rock fusion excess, substituting frenetic virtuosity for melodic content and emotional connection on tunes such as the album-opening 'Check Blast' and 'Hound of Heaven.'" Himes highlights Corea's compositions of the seven "Port View" interludes, and calls "Alan Corday" the best piece on the album. Mike Joyce of The Washington Post also appreciated the "flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
-tinged ballad" of the "Alan Corday" track. Christopher Blagg of the Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
liked "the dense electrified samba of the joyous 'Mistress Luck - The Party'", and commented: "Somewhere L. Ron Hubbard was smiling." Bob Young of the Boston Herald described the album as "music that shifts continually from bright, aggressive jazz fusion to melodic tranquility and back again". James F. Collins gave the album a positive review in The Harvard Crimson, writing: "To The Stars is a testament to his [Corea's] unflagging creativity and is a proud addition to his already expansive discography." Mike Hobart reviewed the album for Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, commenting that "once the band had delivered its first unison riff, the music's inspirational source was irrelevant as a fine programme of jazz-fusion poured out".
In his review of the album, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
writes: "I did like the driving, collective muscle of the band, though, very much," but he also describes its aesthetics as "cluttered and gaudy". For PopMatters, Associate Music Editor Justin Cober-Lake writes: "In many ways, it's a supreme accomplishment with difficult technique passages and broad soundscapes; on the other hand, it's a journey that's too long to take." In his review of Corea's later work The Ultimate Adventure, Will Friedwald of The New York Sun writes: "'To the Stars' was trite, electronic bubblegum music that sounded like a cheesy video-game soundtrack." Writing in The Times, John Bungey comments that "many of the pieces are straitjacketed into the cosmic concept", concluding his review with: "If you prefer hi-fi to sci-fi, then you will be hoping that Corea leaves the space helmet at home next time." John L. Walters gave the album a negative review in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, writing that the album "cries out for warning stickers - 'this album contains dangerously high levels of Scientology'", and that it "drags some perfectly fine jazz musicians ... through conceptual purgatory".
Track listing
Personnel
Band members- Frank GambaleFrank GambaleFrank Gambale is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released eleven studio albums over a period of more than two decades, and is renowned for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques.-Recording career:...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Chick CoreaChick CoreaArmando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
– pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
s, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, liner notes - Eric MarienthalEric MarienthalEric Marienthal is a Los Angeles-based contemporary saxophonist best known for his work in the jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, and pop genres....
– saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846... - John PatitucciJohn PatitucciJohn Patitucci is an American Grammy-winning jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player.-Biography:Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Dave WecklDave WecklDave Weckl is a highly acclaimed jazz fusion drummer. Weckl attended Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, MO and graduated in 1978. He majored in jazz studies at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Additional personnel
- Bernard Alexander – piano tuner
- Brian Alexander – keyboard technician
- Bob Cetti – assistant engineer
- Bernie GrundmanBernie Grundman-Biography:He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1983 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan and Brian Gardner, mastered 37 projects which received Grammy Award nominations in 2005.Grundman...
– mastering - Joe Hesse – equipment manager
- Bernie Kirsh – engineer
- Rik Pekkonen – mixing
- Emanuele Ruffinengo – assistant producer
- Pernell SaturninoPernell SaturninoPernell Saturnino is a Grammy-award winner percussionist from the Caribbean island of Curaçao. He is continuing a musical legacy established by his distinguished family in the island. His grandmother, granduncle and grandaunt, were among those who originated and developed the island's indigenous...
– percussion, guest appearance
See also
- Mission EarthMission Earth (album)- See also :* Space Jazz* The Road to Freedom...
- The Road to Freedom
- Space JazzSpace Jazz-Personnel:Artists*L. Ron Hubbard*Chick Corea*Rick Cruzen*Nicky Hopkins*Stanley Clarke*Tamia Arbuckle*Fernando Gambos*Tomo Allison*Charlie Rush*Gayle MoranProduction personnel*All arrangements and orchestrations by - Rick Cruzen and Tamia Arbuckle...