First posted on Mark Is Cranky:
Tomorrow night, Pat Metheny will bring his latest group lineup to Boston's Orpheum Theatre. As usual, I will be there, excited as all getout.
Somebody asked me a few days ago how many times I've seen Pat and/or the Group. I've never kept track of it but a quick guess would be twenty-five or so. Hey, not as bad as those crazy Deadhead counts.
The weekend's show should be interesting as Pat has added a couple of new musicians to the group. Gregoire Maret is a Swiss-born harmonica player who's played with a stunning list of jazz and pop musicians including: Cassandra Wilson, Max Roach, Charlie Hunter, Bebel Gilberto, Jacky Terrason, Bruce Cockburn, George Benson, Jeff Watts, and Little Jimmy Scott. Brazilian guitarist Nando Lauria can be thought of as a 'veteran' new member of the group, as he played some shows with an early version of the Pat Metheny Group all the way back in 1988 (at Nightstage, in Cambridge, MA. Dang, how did I miss those shows!!??)
So far, I have avoided slinking around on the internet looking for setlists from the tour. I do know that they will play The Way Up (see my review here) in it's entirety. Given the incredible range of sounds and textures on that recording, it should be quite a feat to reproduce the whole album in a live setting.
I'm ready.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
I saw Pat Metheny's trio about six years ago in Winnipeg. When they walked on stage, before playing any notes, the audience gave them a standing ovation.
Apart from a strange, piercing guitar solo that was more industrial noise than anything else, they were absolutely fabulous.
For the new fans out there, what are some of the seminal Metheny recordings that you would recommend? Two of my favorites (and I have many)would include Still Life (Talking) and Question & Answer.
2 - Mark Saleski
that a tricky one.
check out my review of the ecm :rarum disc. that's got references various 'types' of Metheny Group recordings.
and then there's the Metheny Trios.
3 - sgiguere
Yes I've been to a number of Metheny shows and that "strange, piercing guitar solo" seems to show up from time to time. My friend who I always go to the show with loves it!
4 - Mark Saleski
sorry steve. just because i have better taste than you isn't any reason to give me shit for it!!
;-)
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
enjoy the show, Mark. I'm guessing from your past articles and the like, this is gonna be some jazz-type tomfoolery with all manner of on-the-spot flourishes. For sure, i respect that kinda stuff immensely, but most times it goes over my head, even though i can tell it's "good". Just one of those things, man. Some folks never get jazz, some folks never get chickenpox. i'd have prefered jazz, though.
6 - Mark Saleski
hmmm, i got chicken pox AND jazz!
funny thing though, is that i never really got jazz until i went to a show. THEN! i got it.
7 - JR
I think it works best if you get one when you're young and one when you're older.
8 - Mark Saleski
i also got the mumps when i was a kid...and then later on i 'got' Captain Beefheart.
somehow, they're related.
;-)
9 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
well, i got a letter in the post the other day inviting me to come get a mumps vaccination. aparently there's a damn epidemic going on round here.
and i imagine you're right, about "getting" it at a live show. I mean i bought Kind Of Blue, and i loved it for the duration of the playing, but i never put it on again except for a couple times i did the "romantic" stuff like the cooking and so on, and then Miles Davis on in the background. I think the response was "can we put on Nirvana after?"
for sure, i would've rather heard nirvana too, but that's hardly the point.
10 - gonzo marx
Pat Metheny...good stuff there..
me, i tend ta dig the olde skewl Hard Bop
Bird and Diz
Thelonious Monk
older Miles Davis stuff...
old joke coming..
a horn player died and goes to Heaven..St. Peter welcomes him and hands him a perfect horn, then directs him to Cloud Nine where folks are jamming..
the Band is huge, everyone is there...wailing big..one guy...with his back to the audience, is blowing the greatest solo ever heard...the final Notes dwindle...the new guy whispers to someone next to him..."wow..Miles made it up here?"
"no man..that's God..he just thinks he's Miles"
Excelsior!