After spending a year with the avant-garde quartet
Circle,
Chick Corea's desire to communicate to a wider audience led to him deciding to break up the unit. His first post-
Circle recordings were two LPs of piano solos.
Vol. 1 features six of his originals including the eight sketches of "Where Are You Now?," and the debut of the future standard "Sometime Ago." These performances are sometimes a bit precious, but they succeed in being acccessible and serve as a transition between
Circle and
Return to Forever. ~ Scott Yanow