May 2001 03 Jazz Ed
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ALL ABOUT JAZZ monthly edition — may 2001 03 Jazz Ed. 04 Pat Metheny: New Approaches 09 The Genius Guide to Jazz: Prelude EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aaron Wrixon 14 The Fantasy Catalog: Tres Joses ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Michael Martino 18 Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather: Guitar Giants CONTRIBUTORS: 28 The Blue Note Catalog: All Blue Glenn Astarita, Mathew Bahl, Jeff Fitzgerald, Chris Hovan, Allen Huotari, Nils Jacobson, Todd S. Jenkins, Joel Roberts, Chris M. Slawecki, Derek Taylor, Don Williamson, 32 Joel Dorn: Jazz Classics Aaron Wrixon. ON THE COVER: Pat Metheny 42 Dena DeRose: No Detour Ahead PUBLISHER: 48 CD Reviews Michael Ricci Contents © 2001 All About Jazz, Wrixon Media Ventures, and contributors. Letters to the editor and manuscripts welcome. Visit www.allaboutjazz.com for contact information. Unsolicited mailed manuscripts will not be returned. Welcome to the May issue of All About Jazz, Pogo Pogo, or Joe Bat’s Arm, Newfoundland Monthly Edition! (my grandfather is rolling over in his grave at This month, we’re proud to announce a new the indignity I have just committed against columnist, Jeff Fitzgerald, and his new, er, him) — or WHEREVER you’ve been hiding column: The Genius Guide to Jazz. under a rock all this while — and check some Jeff, it seems, is blessed by genius and — of Metheny’s records out of the library. as is the case with many graced by voluminous The man is a guitar god, and it’s an intellect — he’s not afraid to share that fact honour and a privilege to have Allen Huotari’s with us. interview with him in this month’s issue. (Incidentally... I am not a Genius, nor am I Also on the guitar god front, look . Smart, nor even Capable of Breathing With My for a lengthy interview with uber-pickers Mouth Closed. I, you see, am an Editor, which Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather. means — and any writer will tell you this Just try not to play air guitar this issue! We D without your even asking — I am an Idiot.) dare ya! J Whatever. Let me be the fi rst (or at least E ED. the second or third) to welcome Jeff aboard. (We’ll see how long you last in the dog- PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The opinions expressed eat-dog world of downloadable jazz magazine above are those of the editor of AAJme, Z humour, Smart Guy.) and do not refl ect the Publisher’s personal And speaking of smarts, you’d have to be feelings about the people of Stanistan or Z sharp as a bag of wet kittens NOT to know Pogo Pogo. Joe Bat’s Arm, however... In any that when Pat Metheny shuffl es off this mortal case, complaints about the Editor’s mocking of single-coil (hopefully not for a long, long fi ctional countries and the birthplace of his time), he’s going to leave behind one helluva forefathers may be made to, and discrimination A legacy. If you HAVEN’T heard of the man, it’s suits fi led against, Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius, c/o J JAZZ AARON WRIXON probably time to move back to Stanistan, or All About Jazz Monthly Edition. Thank you. Webster’s Dictionary defi nes the word “communication” as “the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.” However, it also offers a pair of alternative meanings: “an opportunity or means of passage between places”; or “an activity by one organism that has the potential to change the behavior of other organisms.” At its best, music encompasses and transcends every one of these defi nitions. Music conveys thought, emotion, and spirit. Music possesses a profound ability to change behavior. In a more abstract (and especially satisfying) sense, music can also provide transport across space and time. Music can help one relive experiences, re-encounter feelings — and suggest new meanings for these experiences and feelings. Performers and listeners can forge these intellectual, emotional, and spiritual connections through NEW music. Guitarist Pat Metheny has been communicating with listeners for nearly thirty APPROACHES years. And if you asked ten of his fans to PAT METHENY BY ALLEN HUOTARI select their favorite Metheny recording, you’d probably get ten different answers. that spans over two decades and includes fact, I kind of sucked at! With his amazingly diverse body of work, unheard-of notoriety. How do you feel your But on the other hand, I see that things I Metheny has touched a proportionately diverse self-perception as a musician has changed over was doing many years ago were in fact more audience. Although he’s created a lot of time? effective than I realized at the time (and in commercially successful music, he has not Pat Metheny: First of all, when I look some cases, things I didn’t even know I was compromised his integrity in order to reach back at this point on my life as a musician, doing at all!)... and ultimately they ended up out to different age groups and backgrounds. I am mainly struck by how lucky I have being signifi cant in developing whatever my Rather, he has relied upon his innate and been to be given so many opportunities thing has winded up being [now]. Perspective honest ability to communicate within a variety to be in challenging and rewarding musical on one’s own thing is one of the most elusive of musical settings — transporting listeners environments... right from the very beginning aspects of self-awareness. In the end, I fi nd across borders. He frequently offers listeners in Kansas City, when I was playing with great myself worrying less and less about perception a new home within his own unique concept and much older musicians at a very young age. in general towards music, and just enjoying of space and time. Perhaps it is this ability My own perception of my playing and it... the sound of it, and especially the process to make new musical experiences inviting that development as a musician has always been of making it and the wonderful community of has allowed Pat Metheny to reach out to such kind of odd — in many ways, I was much more it. a broad audience. confi dent and sure about what constituted AAJ: How do you feel your responsibilities Pat Metheny’s latest recording is TRIO -> “progress” when I was 19 or 20 than at later as a bandleader have changed? LIVE (Warner Bros.). To celebrate the release points in my life. Some of that is natural; PM: We live in a time where the broader of this new recording, Metheny graciously I think you have a certain swagger in that culture itself is in a state of fl ux as it offered to answer some questions in this general age range, especially if you are feeling regards the kinds of creativity that I value — interview, which was conducted via e-mail like you may be accomplishing some of the not just as a bandleader or a musician, but correspondence in March 2001. specifi c musical goals that you are setting for as a civilian. In that sense, I feel like my All About Jazz: Over twenty years ago you yourself in fairly short-term ways. Of course, responsibility is greater than ever to try to came to prominence as the “rookie phenom” now that I am a little older (and hopefully pursue something beyond the obvious ways — full of raw, limitless potential. Today you’re wiser), I can see that there are things that I of thinking about sound and musical style... the “crafty, seasoned veteran” — with a career THOUGHT I was doing really well at that, in and the basic day-to-day function that music provides. I feel that every effort that every from different places with our own dialects in most settings, etc. However, there is a musician makes to try to improve as a player and experiences and heritages. But for me, danger in getting lost in the study of the benefi ts this cause. those all pale in comparison to something language itself. There have been so many AAJ: Charlie Haden has called your sound much greater — our shared humanity. It’s that incredible thinkers and visionaries who have “contemporary impressionistic Americana.” humanity that interests me and attracts me to taken the language to such heights that, in Would you describe your music as being certain players — not where they are from or the process of studying their achievements, uniquely and unmistakably American? what ethnic group they happen to belong to. you can lose sight of your original goal: the PM: More and more I am fi nding myself AAJ: You have a highly distinctive musical goal of learning how to manifest into sound bugged, or at least uninterested in, the voice. Many players achieve this by continuing your OWN story. whole notion of nationalistic pride attached to to refi ne their own “language” — gradually The “multi-lingual” idea may apply to many successful music — any music. To me, music and determinedly adding to their own musicians who, like myself, don’t really buy is one of the major areas of human endeavor “vocabulary.” For others, it’s about developing into the idea that jazz is a “style of music” that so obviously transcends our differences. a facility at “multi-lingual” playing. Which of (or even an “idiom”), as much as it is a I certainly have had my share of personal these analogies best describes your approach? process. Through jazz you are able to learn pride over the years in that I came from PM: For everyone who is going to attempt things about your own musical sensibility.