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Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up


CJ Shearn

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i know we've been discussing 'the way up' from awhile before and after having just made it through my second listening today, i'd be happy to share my early thoughts.

i first heard about this project over a year ago from a friend of mine, engineer rich breen. he said that pat had this, what he presumed, far-fetched idea of a continual 70 minute suite of sorts for a recording (then untitled, of course). i was instantly amused and curious as to where this concept could be taken. i understood that if anyone could meet my expectations, whatever they might be, it would be a musician/composer/producer of pat's (and lyle's for that matter) level.

having just 20 minutes ago made it through my second listening, my very initial obseravtions are that the project is, in my mind, a success. these may be scattered ramblings, but i think it's a very listenable record. very informed by 'secret story'. it's a very ambitious work. i did myself the disservice of reading the initial listener reviews at amazon last night. i don't get the criticisms of a slight recurring theme in the piece. nor do i necessarily care that a theme explored over 20 years ago, familiar to some, may have been constructed upon. these are criticisms that simply don't make any sense to me. to each his own, of course.

obviously with a work of this breadth, it would take me more than a couple listenings to have an intelligent conversation. for the first two listenings though, i'm delighted and have a feeling i'll be spending alot of time with this record for months, if not years, to come.

as i said, these may be scattered ramblings, but that's how it strikes me thus far,

-e-

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i don't get the criticisms of a slight recurring theme in the piece. nor do i necessarily care that a theme explored over 20 years ago, familiar to some, may have been constructed upon. these are criticisms that simply don't make any sense to me.

Great points...

Let's just say that this particular reviewer (and pardon me for being harsh, I'm usually one who bestows the benefit-of-the-doubt) is a complete narcissistic a-hole (disclaimer: in my opinion) who sells Pat's boots on ebay (disclaimer: that's a fact). Oh wait, I'm sorry, his *cousin* stole his identity and actually listed those items on ebay.... :rolleyes: (shurrr Clay, we all believe you bud...). So in this instance I certainly will 'consider the source...'

I haven't received my copy yet, and I've only heard it in its entirety once, so I'm anxious to give it the attention that it deserves.

Edited by rachel
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Let's just say that this particular reviewer (and pardon me for being harsh, I'm usually one who bestows the benefit-of-the-doubt) is a complete narcissistic a-hole (disclaimer: in my opinion) who sells Pat's boots on ebay (disclaimer: that's a fact). Oh wait, I'm sorry, his *cousin* stole his identity and actually listed those items on ebay....  (shurrr Clay, we all believe you bud...). So in this instance I certainly will 'consider the source...'

---

could we get a translation on this paragraph...?

-e-

ps: no confession need be made for slogging bootlegs. if the market exists...

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OK... lemme break it down for you..

I'm referring to the reviewer you referenced from Amazon. He is a known seller of Pat Metheny live bootlegs. He claimed his *cousin* stole his identity and sold the items, not him. (sure...) As C.J. has mentioned, Pat Metheny graciously allows his shows to be taped as long as he isn't aware; he goes into automatic edit mode if he knows he's being recorded. I think it's a no-brainer to assume that Pat Metheny or any musician would not like to see their live boots being sold for profit. There are plenty of live shows that are traded freely. There is no need for anyone to ever pay for one of these shows. This particular reviewer has benefitted immensely from others in the trading community and has in turn offered these up for sale.

It is my opinion that this person is a narcissistic a-hole: I've met him. It is fact that he sold these items for profit. Because of what I know about him, I won't put much thought into what he writes.

What's to understand? Did you think I was referring to you?

Edited by rachel
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What's to understand? Did you think I was referring to you?

Actually, to be fair, I at least thought you were refering to E until I read the thread again and more carefully. :unsure:

Why, in this age of the internet, would anybody *pay* for a bootleg? :rolleyes:

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What's to understand? Did you think I was referring to you?

--

oh, no, it's all good with me. i just wasn't making the connection between the way up and the boot salesman.

i also realize that a good percentage of "long time fans" (of which i am surely one) seem to have difficulties with an artist changing and evolving. this certainly isn't your father's metheny record. which brings us to the amazon reviews...

-e-

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Metheny's work in its grandest setting and scale yet. I'll let the PMG heads debate if this is his best work, but it is very well thought out and unified in thematic concept for such a substantial work, that is quite an accomplishment. Cuong Vu adds a lot to this one. It's a very dense work, meaning it takes a lot of close examination to really piece together everything that's going on, and appreciate some of the sophisticated composition devices, etc. It really is symphonic, rather than cinematic in scope. The main theme is brilliant, I love how the "theme" is really not the melody, but rather the harmony (see the first six minutes of Part One. I think its sophistication is one reason the Amazon reviews have not been uniformly excellent. It takes some time to absorb, and isn't just a record of pretty Metheny/Mays themes, though there are some. I see what the people who say "it doesn't go anywhere" mean, I'm not sure if I agree though.

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I thought the following interview with Metheny from Tokyo's free weekly magazine 'Metropolis' might be of interest.

One only has to try and count Japan's profusion of jazz bars and legions of jazz fans to understand the country’s importance in the worldwide jazz marketplace. Because of the size of Japan’s jazz audience—second only to the U.S.—performers have been crossing the Pacific (some even putting down roots) for as long the journey was made simple by modern transportation.

So it was that the most influential guitarist of late 20th century jazz found himself in an anonymous hotel room in Shinjuku in December to promote the release of his Pat Metheny Group’s ninth and latest album.

“I’ve been coming since 1979,” the famously shaggy Metheny said, leaning forward in his seat. “And as much as you hear about Japan being a special place in the jazz panorama, it’s true. The level of intense and deep scrutiny that is applied to what we do and the genuine support we feel from the people here really does set it apart from anywhere else on earth.”

Entitled The Way Up and released this week on specialty label Nonesuch, part of Warner records, the album is the latest in a long series of collaborations between Metheny and pianist Lyle Mays, the pair at the heart of the group.

The two shook up the jazz world in the late ’70s and early ’80s with recordings that defied the norms of mainstream and avant-garde jazz, and even fusion, despite Metheny and Mays’ extensive use of electric instruments. Wildly popular albums like 1979’s American Garage were built around decidedly non-blues-based, folksy melodies that shifted imperceptibly into extended improvisations. Their songs jettisoned the standard jazz form of beginning with a melody, followed by improvisations from each instrument, and ending with a restatement of the melody, establishing a new template for jazz and bringing it to fresh audiences at a time when its future looked iffy.

The Way Up, says Metheny, came at a critical juncture for both the group and the culture at large. “This time there was a certain urgency. We really changed our band around drastically as of the last record. We got a new drummer, and we needed a record and a tour to bring the new guys into the fold and bring them to the point where they can speak with comfort and fluency in this really odd dialect that we trade in.”

Metheny explains that after more than two decades, it was time to bring the group’s experiments to their logical conclusion. “Much of the group’s platform from the beginning was to look at ways in which we could expand the general idea of what a quartet could be, because at the core of it in fact is this guitar, piano, bass and drums sound. We’ve always been interested in using form in an expanded way...and it really felt like this was the time to finally follow through on what we’d been hinting at on a couple of records, which was in fact to use an entire CD as a platform for one single statement.”

Symphony is the form that comes perhaps closest to describing what Metheny and Mays were aiming at, but listeners will still recognize the hallmarks of the Pat Metheny Group sound: Metheny’s fleet, uplifting guitar work and Mays’ impressionistic piano and synth playing are at the heart of The Way Up. Their almost telepathic interplay is enriched by new textures provided by the recent additions of Vietnam-born trumpeter/vocalist Cuong Fu, Swiss/American harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret, and Mexican drummer Antonio Sanchez.

But Metheny says the extended form the album took was also intended as a political statement to the culture at large. “This record in a lot of ways is a protest record. Lyle and I both feel completely out of step with the direction that the larger culture is moving in: a culture that’s about reducing things, placing less demands on listeners, and making things shorter. It went from a five-minute tune to a three-minute tune, to now you just have to have a ring tone. We reject that. That’s not an effective way of getting to a deeper point of understanding and the good things that we have found through our research in music that lead us to conclusions that are in fact enlightened or enhanced views of wisdom.

“They don’t come through reduction, they come through nuance and detail and expansion and development. And there’s several hundred years of musical wisdom and truth that also support that. The general tendency of the culture to go for the most common denominator is something that with this record we’re fighting against.”

While the polemical aspect of The Way Up will probably be lost on most listeners, this is not the first time Metheny has dipped his toes into the treacherous waters of jazz politics. A few years ago, he excoriated smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G for overdubbing himself onto old Louis Armstrong recordings, igniting an instant controversy in the jazz world.

“I kind of zipped something off, never expecting it would turn into this international thing that it has,” recalls Metheny. “I was shocked that anyone would give a shit what I think that much, but on the other hand everything I wrote I completely stand by. To me it was incredible that there wasn’t more of a reaction to someone overdubbing themselves on a dead guy’s record and saying it’s theirs. Have we really gotten to a point where that’s cool? And the answer is, yes.”

Metheny opposes the current neo-orthodox movement in jazz, embodied by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his amply funded Jazz at Lincoln Center program, with as much passion as he did Kenny G’s necrophiliac use of jazz great Louis Armstrong.

“The tendency of jazz to become an academic music is one I resist with the same fervor I reserve for guys overdubbing themselves on a dead guy’s record. To me, they are both directions that will lead nowhere. Within the world of jazz there is a strong fundamentalist, neoconservative movement. In fact it parallels in amazing ways the political issues that involve fundamentalism and religious issues.

“To me, the academic part is one that presupposes that it’s OK to go to this idealized, mythological version of what a form of music is. ‘Let’s put it in that box. That’s what it is, it’s done. If it doesn’t have the right key, it’s wrong.’ This would make jazz like baroque music or some kind of clearly defined form. To me it needs to remain malleable, so that each new generation can reinvent it using the found materials that are true to them, and can keep replenishing the supply.”

Tokyo International Forum, April 21-22. See concert listings for details.

Edited by JohnJ
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I picked this up the other day, and I've listened to it twice so far. Since this is only the second Pat Metheney album I've bought (the first is the one with Jaco), I can't compare it to his other work, but on it's own merits I really enjoy it. It's a very dense piece with a lot going on. I will say, however, that my opinion of Mr. Metheney hasn't always been good and if I'd heard this album two years ago, I would have hated it. I guess I'm maturing! :g

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A few of my impressions:

I like this album, with some reservations - mainly Part I, which reminds me a little too much of recent works. Parts 2 and 3 are my favorites, and the opening is cool, too. The most touching part comes at the very end - I like those short phrases Pat plays on the tag. The overt 70's references (flanged guitar, electric piano, and the Eberhard Weber bass tone) are a little strange to me in the context of this work. Tip of the hat, I guess. In the liner notes they thank Mick Goodrick; some of the chordal sections sound like they were adapted from his voice-leading books (nothing wrong with that). Nice harmonica work, in the vein of Toots. It took me a while to realize that the drum pattern in the opening is supposed to be counted on the bass drum pulse. I thought it was in some odd meter because of the cross-sticking pattern, but it's really not. Odd bar lengths, maybe. But it's definitely a fast 4/4 when it reappears in Part 2. There's a lot of that kind of superimposing of elements here, and that's one of the things gives it that density that we're hearing. I imagine they had to practice the hell out of this to play it live!

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Alfred - Pat's put out a number of discs since Imaginary Day (which I happen to like). Map of the World, Trio 99>00, Trio Live, Speaking of Now, and One Quiet Night. I like the trio albums and the Quiet Night disc, which is solo baritone guitar.

Haven't picked up the new one yet, but really looking forward to it!

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Alfred - Pat's put out a number of discs since Imaginary Day (which I happen to like). Map of the World, Trio 99>00, Trio Live, Speaking of Now, and One Quiet Night. I like the trio albums and the Quiet Night disc, which is solo baritone guitar.

Haven't picked up the new one yet, but really looking forward to it!

Correct. Sorry!

Imaginary day was the last one I bought.

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