If you’re a fan of jazz guitar, you’ve had quite a feast the past week plus, as the three major post-bop guitars have all come to town to display their own personal reasons for being such an influence to subsequent generations.
If each guitarist has a musical personality, John Scofield must be the hard Swinging Partier, and Bill Frisell kept his reign as the Mad Scientist. Closing out the week at Royce Hall, Pat Metheny showed himself to be the Philosopher King, using his wide ranging musical world view to conquer melodic new worlds.
After opening the show in solo format with his sui generis multi-stringed Pikasso guitar on a rich and exotic improvisation, the team of drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh and pianist Gwilym Simcock joined the stage. Metheny then stated that instead of touring to promote a new album, wanted “to present music from my past in a new fresh light.”
And fresh it was, as Sanchez dressed in a shirt reminiscent of a Roman charioteer from Ben Hur and delivered deep rumbles and a cavalcade of energy for inspiring Metheny in upbeat reads of “Bright Size Life” and “Unity Village” while digging a deep rivulet with the cymbals sparkling like stars on “Third World” and showing a deft touch during his solo of “Always and Forever.”
Metheny himself displayed himself the Heavyweight Champ of the melody, at times giving hints of Wes Montgomery or Herb Ellis in his own distinctive and patented sound and style, but even if you don’t know the difference between Charlie Christian and Christian McBride, you’re attuned to Metheny during his solos, as on the melodic “James” mixing visceral virtuosity and warmth without sacrificing one for the other.
After another solo guitar aria, Metheny performed a series of duets with each partner, teaming with Simcock’s Debussyesque impressions on “Tell Her You Saw Me,” creating Old World moods with the passionate pickings of Oh during a yearning “Change of Heart” and wrapping things up with an avalanche of kinetic energy with Sanchez on a ricocheting “Question and Answer.” The 2 ½ hour evening ended with a couple encores including a masterly read of “Song For Bilbao,” but the entire night was an inspiring workshop for the artist in all of us to find our own voice in creating our own worldview. For Metheny, he demonstrated his ability to have a talent like Vasco Da Gama to circumnavigate the world of music.
Upcoming concerts at Royce Hall include Terri Lyne Carrington 11/09, Sweet Honey In The Rock 11/30 and Luciana Souza 12/01
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