Pete’s Random Thoughts

Is This America? Music byPat Metheny

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 11:30:43 -0800

Pat Metheny

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 08:50:48 -0800

Pat Metheny has long been a musician I have much admired throughout the years. His style and creativity is his own and he has played with a wide array of jazz greats through out the years. He has created an entire genre of his own makings. Along with pianist and long time cohort, Lyle Mays, they’ve created a fusion of quality music that not only has a jazz feel, you can also get a sense of the American landscape through the writings and playing of these wonderful musicians. Check out my Photo Documentary “Is This America” on this blog

It wasn’t until last year that my feelings for Pat Metheny’s music elevated from great musician to a legendary guitarist. In my estimation, he may be one of the five most important musicians living today. This estimation came while seeing Pat in two different concerts at two very different locations.

The first concert was a duo with wunderkind Brad Mehidau and Mr. Metheny at the Center for the Performing Arts in Escondido California. The other concert, also last year, took place when Metheny made his first visit to the Heineken Jazz Festival in Puerto Rico. This was a completely different approach to jazz with his rich and illustrious trio made up of Christian McBride on Bass and Antonio Sanchez on drums. Metheny played a near three hour set that electrified the mass assembly of appreciative jazz lovers. One of the thrills that occurred during both of these concerts came at the beginning of each concert when Pat soloed on the Picasso guitar, a multi stringed guitar. The results were stunning and incredible to experience. (Check out the video below)

Pat Metheny is able to break new ground and explore or associate himself with anyone worthy of standing on the same platform with him, save for Kenny G, whom Mr. Metheny, an outspoken intellectual, made no bones about in an interview with Jazz Oasis.com.

For those not that familiar with Metheny’s approach to music, I would recommend any of his vast array of compact discs. If you would like to get a sense of experiencing his music live there are several DVD’s on the market that are absolute treasures to own. Two of them I’d like to mention are: “We Live Here, Live in Japan,” and “Imaginary Day Live.”
On both of these recordings I believe the listener will come away richer having experienced one of the world’s greatest innovators alive and on the scene today.

Alive at the Village Vanguard, by Lorraine Geller Review by Peter La Barbera

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:37:47 -0800

Antonio Sanchez

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 15:39:58 -0800

Antonio Sanchez is a driving dynamite drummer. Make no mistake about it, this guy smokes. A native of Mexico City, and playing since he was five years old, Sanchez has worked with and led several groups. Notably, his work with Pat Metheny is stunning and remarkable.

Antonio is a very musical drummer that creates a backdrop of wild enthusiasm and his uncanny sense of the solo sparks the improvisors. His foundation establishes and leads to the soloists greater creation sparked by the driving, articulate and accurate foundation created by Antonio.

This coming Spring he will be working with another stellar trio led by Chick Corea and will feature veteran bassist, Eddie Gomez. The interplay and musicianship that should result from this dynamic trio can only be left to the imagination. They will have a feature spot this coming June at the 2010 Heineken Jazz Festival in Puerto Rico.

Migration, an album showcasing Sanchez as a leader is vibrant and colorful. This piano-less group is held together by Sanchez’ powerful bedrock of support for all the soloists in the group. Sanchez has the artistry to drive and support without being overpowering and overbearing therefore leaving the soloist space and support to insert the ideas coming out of the driving drummers rhythms.

Kevyn Lettau and Russell Ferrante

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:23:16 -0800

Kevyn Lettau is an artist that takes several listenings to really get a handle on her craft. This past Thursday we had the chance to finally catch up with her and see her live at the wonderful venue in Temecula CA called “Jazz at the Merc.” She did a groovy duo with her long time collaborator and accompanist Russell Ferrante and the rest of the evening was magic.

For my ears there are two types of jazz singers, those with gorgeous voices and those that use their voice as an instrument. Kevyn wears hats for both these styles. Kevyn has been on the west coast scene for a while now. She has recently settled back into San Diego where her wine seems to be aging and mellowing well.

Her choice of songs ranged from some of the great standards like Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust and her mesmerizing rendition of I’ve Got You Under My Skin to the almost obscure evergreen, A Sinner Kissed an Angel. In each case Kevyn threw herself into the lyrics and explored all of the avenues and became one with the song and it rubbed off on the small but attentive Merc audience. Later in the set she and Russell had some fun with Sunny Side of the Street featuring some tongue in cheek strident stride piano bqcking.

Kevyn’s forte comes as a poet. She writes the poem and sends it off to Russell who puts music to the words and they become Kevyn’s art. The Cherry Tree and a song about Fathers she performed sounding between jazz and folksy however poignant. Kevyn’s interpretations are moving and she is a visual happening on stage.

Russell is the consummate pianist accompanist. Since they’ve performed together for as long as they have there is that uncanny marriage of styles that come together and make for a great program for the rest of us.

Kevyn can swing, make no mistake about it. She and Russell have a romp as she performed a real tongue twisting vocalese, Out of Town, from one of the Yellowjackets original lines, a group in which Russell was the keyboardist and original founder. She told the audience that her ex husband suggested that she put lyrics to this complicated line. Kevyn confessed, “Sure, but he didn’t have to sing it.”

While it is difficult for any quality jazz singer to get by in today’s culture we feel blessed that a duo with Kevyn and Russell is made available to us her in Temecula where we can go to dig and appreciate their contribution to the music.

Jerry's Big Mouth

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:26:37 -0800

The Jazz Drummer

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:47:28 -0800

From the book of Short Stories: “Reflections and Vignettes of a kid growing up in the Bushwick Section of Brooklyn a long time ago”

Signing Away Your Life

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:43:22 -0800

With all the blaring headlines in the news about the problems with health care issues, I would like to share a recent, personal, issue I had with my own local Retina Doctor during a recent examination at his office. After waiting a half hour in the waiting room just finishing up writing a volume of personal information, I was finally called into the assisting nurse’s room to verify all of the things I’d written down which were now being fed to the masses on the computer, to forever tag me whenever I speak or ever fill out another form someplace else. All of this was than followed up with eye drops to dilate my eyes. From there I was led yet to another waiting room to wait for my eyesight to completely be out of focus. From there, after the passing of another twenty minutes, I’m led into another office to finally meet the doctor. He tells me that I’m about to receive a vegetable dye injection to highlight the back of my eyes in living color to help find a solution to my vision problems. The doctor tells me that I can expect to be nauseous for at least three minutes after receiving this injection but in a few cases this can last longer and rarely lead to getting very sick. Up until now, I’ve invested all of this time and effort to get to this point. Do I throw in the towel or just gamble that I’m one of the many that only experiences nausea for a brief period of time?

I go for it. Prior to the dye injection another nurse puts a three page release form in front of me asking me to give permission for the dye and to release the doctor from getting sued should i become deathly ill. the pages are chock full of a lot of text, all of which are completely out of focus for me - I could be signing my fortunes away to this doctor I’ve first met. What do I do? Do I have a choice here? Why did they wait until now to lay this all on me when I can no longer see?

Of course, like most of us would do, I blindly signed off and gave it all up to faith. Fortunately, I had a brief brush with nausea but not enough to toss my cookies on the pretty nurse and her starched pink scrubs. The ultimate diagnoses was nothing major that could easily be remedied by a brief out patient procedure. I don’t put any blame on this or any doctor for wanting to protect their asses. I suppose the pendulum has come full circle from the times that irresponsible and callous patients would try to dream up ways in which to screw a doctor with a hapless lawsuit. It sure is fun living in this here twenty first century.

New England

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:05:47 -0800

New England Photo Gallery

Fusing Flamenco to Bill Evans

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:04:29 -0700

I have always been a fan of the flamenco guitar and have enjoyed it since the days of Segovia all the way up to Paco De Lucia. One of today’s contemporary flamenco guitarist on the scene is Nino Josele. His sound is rich and his approach to music is introspective with deep humility and feeling. For him to take on the task of interpreting Bill Evans with the tools and sensitivity of his gitano heritage seemed a monumental chore. However, he has shown that music genres and traditions can marry and result in a consummate outpouring of emotion, vibrancy, charm and vigor.

I will have the privilege and opportunity to see this wonderful musician at the venerable Village Vanguard next month with an all star trio featuring John Benitez on bass and Horazio "El Negro" Hernandez on drums. You can be assured that there will be some coverage on that event on these pages in the near future. Meanwhile, you can experience a small sample of this artist’s work below.