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Metheny and the Orchestrion


Dave Bryce

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Thanks again, very interesting, can't wait for this weekend. I'm not surprised Pat includes "Are You Going With Me" and closes the set with it, that one is pretty much his "Satisfaction"/"Hey Jude" I guess.

Rich Forman

Yamaha MOXF8, Korg Kronos 2-61, Roland Fantom X7, Ferrofish B4000+ organ module, Roland VR-09, EV ZLX12P, K&M Spider Pro stand,

Yamaha S80, Korg Trinity Plus

 

 

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Seems like an odd line - if you're suggesting the two are similar - I'd say the similarity ends at their both having long curly hair - musically and artistically they couldn't be farther apart imho.

Rich Forman

Yamaha MOXF8, Korg Kronos 2-61, Roland Fantom X7, Ferrofish B4000+ organ module, Roland VR-09, EV ZLX12P, K&M Spider Pro stand,

Yamaha S80, Korg Trinity Plus

 

 

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Seems like an odd line - if you're suggesting the two are similar - I'd say the similarity ends at their both having long curly hair - musically and artistically they couldn't be farther apart imho.

 

He's probably referencing some remarks Metheny made about 20 years ago about Kenny (I'm not Garrett) G. I remember chuckling in glee when I first heard them, but now it's just another thing of the past I don't care about.

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Will Kenny G be sitting in on any of his upcoming dates?

Kenny is currently looking for more dead musicians as duet partners for an upcoming album.

Let's start with him! :evil:

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Will Kenny G be sitting in on any of his upcoming dates?

Kenny is currently looking for more dead musicians as duet partners for an upcoming album.

Let's start with him! :evil:

 

There's an awesome band from Seattle called The Dead Kenny G's:[video:youtube]

Turn up the speaker

Hop, flop, squawk

It's a keeper

-Captain Beefheart, Ice Cream for Crow

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Seems like an odd line - if you're suggesting the two are similar - I'd say the similarity ends at their both having long curly hair - musically and artistically they couldn't be farther apart imho.

Moe - loved the sarcasm.

 

For those interested, here are excerpts of Pat Metheny's scathing comments on Kenny G:

"Not long ago, Kenny G put out a recording where he overdubbed himself on top of a 30+ year old Louis Armstrong record, the track "What a Wonderful World". With this single move, Kenny G became one of the few people on earth I can say that I really can't use at all - as a man, for his incredible arrogance to even consider such a thing, and as a musician, for presuming to share the stage with the single most important figure in our music."

 

Pat then fires: "But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician."

To read full comments in context: http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm

 

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WOW! Metheny said that, knowing he was on the record I guess? I had forgotten that if I ever read it originally. That is an amazing quote, thanks for the info guys! Did Kenny ever acknowledge/respond?

Rich Forman

Yamaha MOXF8, Korg Kronos 2-61, Roland Fantom X7, Ferrofish B4000+ organ module, Roland VR-09, EV ZLX12P, K&M Spider Pro stand,

Yamaha S80, Korg Trinity Plus

 

 

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Looking forward to seeing the PMUG this weekend in Red Bank, NJ. :rawk:

Here's a recent interview with Pat on the Public Radio show Here and Now...along with audio clips from the new KIN album, Pat talks about where he's at in his musical journey and answers the question what about the Pat Metheny Group? http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/03/13/pat-metheny-kin

Regards, C

 

 

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Thanks again, very interesting, can't wait for this weekend. I'm not surprised Pat includes "Are You Going With Me" and closes the set with it

 

Would love to hear him play "Are We There Yet?" for a change instead. ;)

 

Seriously though, what a killer track from the "Letter From Home" album. I recall he said it was intended to be a sequel to "Are You Going With Me?".

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@dB Did Carmassi get a chance to showcase his keyboard chops?

Not really.

 

Towards the end of the set, Pat did one number with each of the guys in the group - first with the bass, then the horns, then keys, then drums. Carmassi's tune showed off his singing more than his keyboard chops.

 

 

Re: Orchestrion... I enjoyed his Orchestrion show at Strathmore. Gary Burton was in the audience. Strathmore's PA started to malfunction, so the techs turned it off, and whisked Metheny's personal PA onstage - turned out to be FOUR Bose PAS systems. Sound was very good! He had three or was it four wireless POK pedals to trigger MIDI events. I read that he had an Ableton Live Set with 400 scenes programmed for the tour. He also had a Moog Taurus 3 but I couldn't tell if he was just triggering stuff with it too or using its sound.

I believe he was using the pedals to change scenes. Didn't hear anything that sounded like Taurus pedals.

 

dB

 

Great show at Strathmore this past Friday! Yes, it was consistent with what dB reported above. I love "Dream Of The Return" and expected a rendition of the tune in Italian lyrics or something (original used Aznar's Spanish lyrics), but was disappointed to hear wordless vocalizations instead. However, still a great show overall. Pat definitely looks and sounds inspired by his new set of bandmates.

 

He gave us two encores, with the final one being a very nice medley of Metheny tunes on solo acoustic guitar.

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Another great Metheny Unity Group show...over 2 1/2 hours in Red Bank NJ at the Count Basie Theater. NJ is the best place to see PM :thu:

 

As mentioned above, not much at all in the show to feature keys, even though the new Group member Giulio Carmassi stayed at the piano with a synth/controller on top. Not sure if he also played some of the Orchestrion instruments live with the controller (or MIDI'd AP). The Orchestrion really fills out the bigger sound of the latest PMUG KIN record and its four longer pieces (all over 10 minutes), while still letting the Sanchez/Williams rhythm section and Potter's reeds/flute stay upfront with PM shifting back and forth between acoustic/electric/synth guitars!

 

The show featured tunes from the Unity Band/Group CDs, with Kin, On Day One, Rise Up and Born standing up well to any major composition in the PM Songbook. Besides the classics/encores mentioned above by RF/GS, the set included a quartet version of James, Bright Size Life duet with Ben Williams (Acoustic Bass) and the Unity Group's solid version of Have You Heard from the LFH CD. The crowd erupted with a standing ovation on that one!

 

BTW, shows have been added this summer with a Pat Metheny Unity Group double bill with Bruce Hornsby/Sonny Emory called The Campfire Tour 2014 (select dates in CA and the NE).

 

 

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Loved the concert in Philly on Saturday night (sold out), I am still humming PM tunes days later. Pat hasn't aged a day and looked like he is still wearing the same shirt as on the cover of American Garage. :) The set list was like what's been mentioned here. I got a laugh out of my girlfriend with something I whispered in her ear during Pat's solo workout in "James." They did this song after starting with three from the Unity Band album (these I knew, having been listening to the cd in my car for a couple weeks). But then concluding his opening mini-set with "James," a very recognizable tune to long time fans and I think one of his most charmingly simple/accessible/tuneful compositions, was a generous move and probably a bit of relief for those not familiar with the newer music.... and just about everyone was happily, quietly singing or "conducting" along as he played the song's familiar head. Course then he went into a long, dazzling, adventurous, virtuosic jazz solo, of course with dizzying speeds, fretwork, intricate rhythmic interplay among the band, outside harmonic exploration etc....anyway I imagined Pat's wicked inner monologue at that moment - "Ah, everybody cheerfully humming the melody at the beginning of the song, eh? Well, sing along to this, motherf***ers!"

Rich Forman

Yamaha MOXF8, Korg Kronos 2-61, Roland Fantom X7, Ferrofish B4000+ organ module, Roland VR-09, EV ZLX12P, K&M Spider Pro stand,

Yamaha S80, Korg Trinity Plus

 

 

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