Whenever you examine a great band that’s been going on as long as the Pat Metheny Group has, you can usually look back and find a period where they reached a crucial turning point in their development.
They found some initial success with their original sound but after a few years felt themselves growing stale and before the public started clamoring for the change, they rolled the dice and changed up their sound risking alienating their original fan base. The Beatles, U2, Miles Davis and Bob Dylan were just a few examples of artists who made that critical jump successfully; many more did not.
For most of them, the transformation didn’t happen with a single release; it usually took two or three to complete the metamorphosis. In this review, we’re going to look at two albums which together represents that turning point for perennial jazz-world fusion favorites the Pat Metheny Group.
For those of us who’ve followed the career of Pat Metheny since the seventies, the image of a lanky, longhaired twenty-one year old Missouri country boy is still fresh in our minds. He took on the world of guitar gods dominated by the likes of Larry Coryell and Al diMeola with his Jim Hall-meets-Ralph Towner folk jazz approach and conquered them by winning over an audience tiring of endless loud wanking and craving thoughtfully played, softer notes.
His 1976 debut Bright Size Life brought guitar jazz back down to the basics but with just enough of a contemporary sound to attract a younger audience. The following album had begun his long association with keyboardist Lyle Mays and the for next album The Pat Metheny Group Metheny and Mays formed a full fledged four piece band of the same name, which was a more coherent presentation of ideas Metheny first presented in the first two (officially) solo records.
After another album in the same vein, American Garage, Metheny returned to releasing solo records under his own name as a vehicle for side diversions that revealed the artist to have many more influences than what he’s revealed before, including an advanced hard bop record and another one featuring him an mostly unaccompanied acoustic guitar. And then in 1980, he recorded an interesting record credited to him and Mays entitled As Falls Wichita So Fall Wichita Falls, a sort of a folk-prog record that in hindsight brought forth some of the ideas the formed the basis for The PMG’s upcoming new sound.
But in 1982, the fans of this four year old band still had no idea of the seminal album that ensured the Pat Metheny Group would never be just another fusion group. That year, Offramp was unleashed to the world. I can still remember when that record was first released my brother remarked that the “offramp” symbolized the band getting off the highway of a more conventional form of fusion jazz and that really sums it up even more in retrospect.
The opening moment signals the drastic change by heralding the African rhythm of Brazilian percussion phenom Nana Vasconcelos, and the strange sound 11 seconds into it is probably PMG fans’ first taste of Pat’s guitar synthesizer, an instrument he still plays with some regularity today. This track, titled “Barcarole,” is a three-minute free flowing, trippy tune in the style of that Wichita album of the prior year, but now that newly printed calling card has been officially handed out.
The nine-minute centerpiece selection “Are You Going With Me?” follows with a long developing cyclical theme that is played at a raised pitch halfway through. The solos space it allows for first Mays and then Metheny (with two differing guitar synthesizer solos) allow them to fully develop their statements without haste and as he usually does Pat exercises restraint to give his audience something a lot more interesting in the bargain. (Note: this version nonetheless pales to the live one on Travels released the following year).
“Au Lait” is perhaps the weakest tune of the set, with Nano providing some borderline goofy wordless vocals but once the beginning sequence is played out the song settles into a relaxed groove with Mays providing his usual lean piano voicings. The fast-paced “Eighteen” is most notable for Dan Gottlieb’s rolling drum solo, still one of the best I’ve heard of those lasting under 30 seconds.
The title track is perhaps the most bizarre of the set, an all out whack jazz workout with Metheny back on the Synclavier and Steve Rodby on acoustic bass (who proves to be more than up to the task on this tune). Almost as if to make amends to the traditional PMG crowd, it’s followed by the very American Garage sounding James. Closer “The Bat, Part II” is another free flower like the first track, but with a melancholy mood.
In contrast to the first two Pet Metheny Group albums, Offramp offers a much more varied selection of tracks, each with its own personality. You can still hears echoes of the original sound, but the introduction of the guitar synthesizer, percussionist/vocalist, and a bass player who plays acoustic as well as electric (Rodby replaced original bassist Mark Egan on this release) altered their sound.
Furthermore, the band had added world fusion and some avant garde elements to its original presentation. The following album, the aforementioned live Travels (1983), and another Menteny solo release put off a proper follow up release, which they produced the two year later with First Circle.
On First Circle, the palette widened and the songwriting tightened up somewhat. There were also more personnel changes; Gottlieb made way for Paul Wertico, while Vasconcelos was replaced by the Argentinean Pedro Aznar.
Like the first album in this review, the second one starts off on with a curveball, an off key marching band ditty called Forward March (you should see them play this live, it’s an absolute hoot). The poppish Yolanda, You Learn follows with some fine guitar and synth guitar work by Metheny.
Aznar was not in Vasconcelos’ league as a percussionist, but he possessed an angelic tenor, almost like a Latin Art Garfunkel, and a powerful falsetto to boot. He used both talents to maximum effect in his wordless vocals in The First Circle. “If I Could” features Metheny on acoustic guitar; for a man who is responsible for so much soft pop-jazz, this ranks among his softest and sorrowful; a direct descendent of the As Falls Wichita So Fall Wichita Falls‘ Bill Evans tribute “September 15th”.
“Tell It All” is distinguishable by Lyle Mays’ gogolo bells ushering in Pat’s display of some massive chops on electric guitar before doing so again on the Synclavier. “End of the Game” is representative of the South American-flavored fusion that was becoming part and parcel to the PMG’s music by this time, while “Mas Alla (Beyond)” is a showcase for Aznar singing real lyrics this time, albeit Spanish ones. The album ends with an upbeat straight rock track appropriately called “Praise” and probably wouldn’t have been out of place on a Bruce Springsteen album of that time if not for the lack of lyrics.
By First Circle, the Pat Metheny Group has firmly established themselves as a band that was capable of tackling a wide range of styles very loosely held together by jazz music; they could go from soft-pop fusion on one song and veer toward all out free jazz in the next, and everything in between. All the band members have the wherewithal to pull it off, both live and in the studio.
The foundations they laid down on these two albums set them up for the commercial successes of 1985’s The Falcon and the Snowman and 1987’s Still Life (Talking). Even today, you never know what to expect from the Pat Metheny Group. Only now, we’ve come to expect that.
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Wow, wanking! Coryell not thoughtful? Hmmm. It is great that you love Metheny. Coryell was a defender of Pats style when he first was coming up and the Jazz police were critical. pat was influenced by Larrys playing from the Burton 4tet back in 1969. Larry has a vast discography that compliments a wide array of styles. frankly, he is and was a visionary – and Pat will tell you the same. I suggest you learn to praise those that you like without denigrating other artists- particularily those that are considered to be one of the greats.
Thanks for your thoughts, “anonymous”
It’s great that you like Coryell. I do too; Spaces is a vastly underrated early fusion masterpiece, IMO. I also like the bop-oriented stuff he did in the eighties, and even most of his fans ignore that period. But c’mon, he’s put out his share of crappy records, too, especially around the time Metheny first came to the scene.
The point I was making was that Pat’s style totally flew in the face of the style that was popular at the time and changed people’s perception that stuffing as many notes in a chord doesn’t necessarily make you a great guitar player. Fusion was becoming a speed game that Coryell was participating in and Metheny arrived just in time to help put an end to that madness.
Pico thanks for the comments. European Impressios, standing ovation,twin house,splendid, 12 frets to 1 octave, scherezade, bolero,visons in blue,11th house, comin home, toko du, tricyles,dragongate, air dancing, laid back and blues, power trio live, monk trane miles and me, cedars of avalon, tributaries, lady coryell,fairyland, live from bahia, together, two for the road, private concert,new high, equipoise,live at the village gate, spaces, spaces revisited,from the ashes, inner urge, shining hour, impressions, foreplay, restful mind,counts jam band runion,, cause and effect, just like being born, a quiet day in spring. Seems to me that there are quite few keepers on this quick list plus a few seminal ones. You should note that Coryell was integral in calming fusion down when he bagan his next phase and began a series of acoustic solo, duo and trio recordings and concert tours. For the record I like PM but frankly sometimes he puts me to sleep and I often wish he had a little more blues feel in his playing but guess what- he’s great and important. I much prefer Jim Hall or Joe Diorios playing from that period of time. Jazz rock- fusion was great and served the purpose of opening up closed ears from rock and jazz. Everybody puts out albums that are inferior to their talent.
Certainly everyone (including Metheny…Zero Tolerance for Silence anyone?) have put out their share of clunkers.
I like some of Coryell records you listed, but not all. For one, I never did like his 11th House period. I know a lot of Coryell and fusion fans dig it but it does absolutely nothing for me, and I probably had that particular phase in mind when I listed LC as an example. I certainly didn’t have the man’s entire body of work in mind, though, not even close. Sorry if I came off that way in the article.
A sidebar, and not that it matters in my assessment of either man’s music, but Pat isn’t so fond of Coryell as you might think:
“when larry coryell presumed to overdub himself on top of a wes montgomery track, i lost a lot of the respect that i ever had for him – and i have to seriously question the fact that i did have respect for someone who could turn out to have have such unbelievably bad taste and be that disrespectful to one of my personal heroes.”
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/arti0900_03.htm
Pat, since those harsh and hurtful words, had released another statement that clarifies and retracted his disrespect. Guys like Jimmy Bruno were disapointed in Pats disrepecting of “one of the greats” I still hope pat and larry will record together one day. Larry has never had anything but praise for Pat. Tonight I’m off to see coryell trio with Alphonse mouzon and joe bagg.
Best Regards
Mike Brinkman
I haven’t been able to Google the retraction, but lumping Coryell in with Gorelick does seem rather harsh. It’s conceivable that Metheny later realized that, too.
Hope you enjoyed the show.