Here we almost have a traditional jazz tune with the head being played followed by the expected improvisations. But on “Unquity Road,” Pat and Jaco work in a kind of near-unison.
They play off of each other with Jaco’s occasional slight deviations giving the theme all that much more energy.
In the wrong hands this idea might fall flat but Metheny’s composition, built on series of rapid chord changes presented in a three-note motif, gives a feeling of almost inevitable forward motion.
This is also the first Bright Size Life track where Pat really lets loose on a solo, working in (what would become his signature) chiming arpeggios along with a few very un-jazzlike peaks. No solo for Jaco here but there’s so much bass going on that you’d hardly notice.
Up next: Omaha Celebration
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I love this tune.
This was one where I set out, in military-type fashion, to learn this song on the guitar and to be somewhat comfortable with the changes (I learned early on about the futile energy wasted trying to sound like Pat…).
I spent about a week with it, then it finally sank in. It crossed nitrogenous protein bases with my DNA, and now it is a part of me. I love doing this with Pat tunes. It blows my mind how he came up with this tune, basically as a teenager.
Apparently an actual street in a local park in Boston that Pat used to enjoy…