Pat Metheny Ideas As a Musician
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CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM NOTES Saturday, April 24, 2010, 8pm The Orchestrion Project Zellerbach Hall HAVE BEEN VERY LUCKY over the years to have it has been as much about the technology as the Imany opportunities to explore a wide range of musical result. My only goal here, however, is a Pat Metheny ideas as a musician. The quest to find new ways of musical one. thinking about things and the process of trying to Now, nearly 10 years into the new century, it come up with a personal perspective on music has feels like time to try to create something particu- been a major priority along the way, almost from larly connected to the reality of this unique period the very beginning. in time. The Orchestrion Project is a leap into new The issue of context is crucial to this project. territory. This project represents a recently devel- As much as I have and will continue to enjoy play- oped conceptual direction for me that involves the ing in traditional formats (solo, duets, trios, quar- merging of an idea from the late 19th and early tets and quintets, various large ensembles, the Pat 20th centuries with the technologies of today to Metheny Group, however one might place that in create an open-ended platform for musical inven- this spectrum), the urge to investigate what might tion and performance. be possible in this relatively unexplored corner of “Orchestrionics” is the term that I am using potential has been building. to describe a new performance method to present One of the inspiring hallmarks of the jazz tra- music alone onstage using acoustic and acousto- dition through the decades has been the way that electric musical instruments that are mechanically the form has successfully ushered in musical con- controlled using the power of modern technology. texts, resulting in new performance environments In early 2010, my new recording, Orchestrion, for players and composers. This pursuit of change was released on Nonesuch. It is a “solo” record in and the way that innovators in jazz have reconciled that I am the only musician, but it is a CD that in the roots of the form with the new possibilities of some ways recontextualizes the term. their own time has been an inspiration and a major Some background: In the late 1800s and early defining element for me in the music’s evolution 1900s, as player pianos (pianos played mechani- at every key point along the way. From new com- cally by moving rolls of paper through a mecha- binations of instruments and new performance nism that physically moved the keys) emerged, the techniques, to technological shifts in the instru- next logical step was to apply that same principle ments themselves that were deployed first in jazz to a range of orchestral instruments, often includ- settings (the drum set, the use of the saxophone, Jimmy Katz ing percussion and mallet instruments. These large the modification and adaptation of European instrument arrays were called Orchestrions. classical instruments, the electric guitar, etc.) to For a number of years now, I have been gather- large ensemble presentation and composition (big The Orchestrion Tour ing the forces of a group of talented and innovative bands, etc.), jazz musicians have often been the inventors and technicians from around the coun- ones trying new things, looking for new sounds. try to construct a large palette of acoustic sound- This quest, in tandem with the generation of deep producing devices that I can organize as a new and soulful content, has made the story of jazz a kind of Orchestrion. The principle instruments fascinating journey. have been designed and built for me by the incred- In recent years, we have watched the form ibly talented Eric Singer, who is a major innovator continue mostly along the lines of refinement (at This presentation is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Nadine Tang and Bruce Smith. in this area of engineering. best) and historical retrenchment and revisionism A small number of musicians have been doing (at worst). For example, in my case I have enjoyed Cal Performances’ 2009–2010 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. things like this in recent years as the mechanics playing trio music year in and year out from the of it all has evolved. And naturally, in many ways, beginning of my career, and the task of finding 20 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 21 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES new ways of looking at many of the same issues of these instruments were looked at now—par- the experiences of a lifetime and with the quest to else, this will be something truly unique. It feels that were of major importance to me early on ticularly informed by the harmonic and melodic invoke the spirit and soul that is core to what it like progress to me and has gotten some notes out has been an important journey that stands on its advances in jazz of the past 70 or 80 years? Could is to be the kind of musician that I have aspired of me that I didn’t know were there. That is always own and has been a trip worth taking. And the I form some kind of personal statement using in- to become. a good thing. Pat Metheny Group mandate of engagement with struments like these?” But many times along the way, the experience the musical and technological potentials and reali- Related to this interest was my total immersion of a new challenge or the quest for a new way of Pat Metheny, July 2009 ties of the times has been rewarding and valid as in the general modern musical instrument technol- looking at things—or a new tool—has allowed me well—as I am sure it will continue to be in the (not ogy (and later computers), which has been a major (encouraged me? forced me?) to ask hard questions Postscript: I have realized by now that as much as too distant) future. part of my life since I started playing music. (I of- of myself as a musician. I can describe this project, even the people closest But in the meantime, I have found myself ten joke that my first musical act with an electric This experience so far has provided me with a to me have had no idea what I was talking about again craving for a context that is somehow intrin- guitar was to “plug it in”—knobs and wires are self-imposed challenge that has proven to be enor- until they have actually heard the music and had sically connected to this moment in time—to find the same to me as mouthpieces, bows, reeds and mously difficult and time-consuming, but the early an encounter with it all in action. So, even having something that could only be happening now. drumsticks are to other musicians.) results have been absolutely exhilarating. written all of the above, I know for sure that you Let me continue by going backwards a bit. Parallel to the information revolution that has I am excited to share this project with all of still have to experience it yourself to really under- As a little kid, every few summers we would go affected all of our lives, we have lived through a you. I am hopeful and confident that if nothing stand what it is. visit my grandparents in Manitowoc, Wisconsin— revolution in music technology that is almost my mother’s hometown. My grandfather (Delmar overwhelming. Yet, at the same time, as much as Bjorn Hansen) was a great musician, a brilliant I have been enthusiastic about the orchestrational trumpet player and singer whose love for great har- potentials of synthesizers and electric instruments mony was a strong early influence. Upon arrival in general, and even as those instruments have im- at their family house, I would make a beeline to proved enormously and continue to develop, the the basement, where one of the most fascinating whole idea of jamming a whole bunch of combined objects I ever saw was kept: a 50-plus-year-old sounds into a single set of stereo speakers has never player piano, complete with boxes of piano rolls been as satisfying to me as a single instrument of all kinds of music. I would spend hours there into a single discrete amplification system (electric with my cousins trying each roll, pumping until guitar) or especially, the power of acoustic instru- we were worn out by the pedals. The idea of an ments and sound. instrument like this, capable of playing just about The energy of sounds mixing acoustically in anything mechanically, was totally mind-blowing the air is something that cannot be compared with to me. It was something utterly charming; on one anything else. hand it was old fashioned but, at the same time, it Yet I have never seen any of these sound com- was almost like science fiction. ponents as being mutually exclusive. In fact, the Throughout the years, that early fascination exciting thing for me has been the coalition possi- has grown and I have studied the tradition of these ble using all kinds of available sounds and dynamic kinds of instruments including the Orchestrions of levels of all sorts—from the quietest of the quiet, to the early 20th century that took this idea further. the loudest of the loud. Using various other orchestral instruments me- Ray Kurzweil, one of the most visionary think- chanically tethered to the piano/piano roll mecha- ers in the world, was asked recently about his work nism to develop ensemble sounds, a miniature or- in the area of artificial intelligence and I thought chestra was possible.