It’s because of concerts like this that I can’t stand living in Los Angeles.
Why is it that Lowell Pickett’s Dakota Jazz Club gets artists and tours to come to Minneapolis, MN and not darken the doors of any club in LA? Last year he had Chick Corea with Steve Gadd which simply eschewed the City of the Angels, and now he got guitar legend Pat Metheny to show up with his brand new trio of drummer Marcus Gilmore and keyboardist James Francies, together for two nights of two sets in a cozy and acoustically perfect club that had the trio mixing revamped reads of classic material with mind expanding new concepts.
For the 2 ½ hour second set, Metheny opened by telling the audience that his idea was to “play with newer interesting and unique musicians” in order to “play older tunes in different ways.” As one who taught at Berklee in his youth, Metheny seemed like the joyful professor, encouraging each member with shouts of “Great” or “Oh Yeah” during solos and ensemble movements.
Yes, there were takes of vintage songs like “The Red One,” “Bright Size Life,”, “So May It Secretly Begin,” “The Bat, “James” as well of reads of Ornette Coleman pieces such as “Good Life” and “Turnaround.” But the master chef guitarist took his Ibanez and used it as like a spatula as he stirred up easy tensile blues that hummed like a V8, funky bebop with Francies adding bass lines with his left hand on the keys and Gilmore supplying the hip backbeat and some lithe Latin concepts that had the three delivering a torrid table dance.
For all of his personal and patented sounds, Metheny mixes his unique language with the dna that he grew up with, as he throws in quotes of Miles Davis’ “Four,” a dash of Gillespie’s “Tin Tin Teo,” Wes Montgomery infused octaves and sleek Kenny Burrell lines, all pureed and sautéed with Metheny’s complex harmonies and rhythmic directions.
A few of the songs even included a return to a chamber version of the famed Orchestron, as Metheny switched to his Roland synthesizer to mix some rocking heavy metal on one of the intuitive originals. Hues of Weather Report and Deep Purple were all part of Pat’s palette in the trio setting.
On solo guitar, Metheny showed a deft, delicate and patient touch on his “regular” acoustic as well as his Manzer Pikasso, producing a rich improvisation on the latter and encoring with reflection on “Minuano/September 15/This Is Not America/Last Train Home” on the former.
Like Duke Ellington, Metheny is not afraid to return to his earlier material and re-interpret it with new ideas and teammates. This is the true sign of a genius who is not afraid to grow, and judging by the response of the packed house, he has a loyal following to enjoy his every path.
Is there anything we Angelenos can say to guide this band to hit the Best Coast?
Upcoming shows at Dakota include Al DiMeola 09/11, Brian Blade 09/25, Candy Dulfer 90/26029, Lee Ritenour 09/20, Billy Cobham 10/01