A year after his auspicious debut, Pat Metheny returned to the ECM label with a lineup that’s very close to what would become the first incarnation of the Pat Metheny Group. With Danny Gottlieb on drums and Lyle Mays on piano, Watercolors had the great Eberhard Weber on bass; a slot that would end up being filled by Mark Egan on the next album.
In contrast to “Bright Size Life,” “Watercolors” provides the first concrete example of The Group sound, the main harmonic feature being the presentation of a long-form melody. It’s not that Metheny was stepping outside the rules (that would happen later), but his line of thought traced itself through the chord changes while putting nearly complete emphasis on the story being told.
One summer in the mid-1980s, I spent a week on an island off the coast of Maine. Every morning I would get up and pop in my homemade cassette of this album. To this day I associate it’s pensive opening chord sequence with the smell of fresh coffee mingled with the scent of sea air.
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Can’t figure out why I always come back to this CD because of Lyle M. or Eberhard W. The compositions give a hint of M and M brilliant collaborations to come. The songs have a unity to them creating an atmosphere very relaxing to the ear, culminating in the extended final tune, Sea Song, I think it’s called, which is the precursor for more adventurous, experimental collaborations like ASWSFWF. A wonderful, underrated, first PMG recording!
This is where it really begins. Chronologically speaking, this is the first taste of the Metheny/Mays aura. The tune, “Watercolors”, is easily one of my top 5 Pat compositions. I will never tire of this song, as a listener or a player. There are SO few songs where that applies…
The head of the tune, played freely, then twice with full ensemble, is melodic perfection. It steps gently at times, then leaps and dives in sizable intervals at others. After the easy walk down to conclude the theme, the solo section begins with Pat, well, doing his thing. This is a great example of what sets Pat apart. The intricacies of the chord/melody/harmonic structure of the head are completely at odds with the (relatively) simple two chord vamp structure of the solo. Open ended. It shifts (up a fourth?) to the same chord relationship, which is just enough so it doesn’t get stale. Then it shifts back down. That’s it for the chords behind the solo! I love it. All the challenging hoops of be-bop and other traditional jazz forms, and this tune just buzzes along with a maj7 and min7 two-chord vamp. Genius.
Lyle squares up next for his solo, which already sounds like classic Mays (even though the guy, just like Pat, is still a kid). I swear I can see Pat grinning, and doing his head nod as he lightly comps behind Lyle’s playing.
A quick, yet perfectly placed, semi-tone modulation to queue up the head, and the solos are out. The theme is stated only once, and the ease of the walk down melody closes out the tune.
This is the stuff that has me hooked for life. Especially when you are talking about Pat and Lyle working together.
As a side note, for any fans out there of Phish, or Trey Anastasio, I have always contended that the instrumental portion (piano solo) of the Phish tune, ‘The Lizards, is a direct lift of the chord pattern/sequence/intervals of ‘Watercolors’. Listen for yourself. Additionally, there is documented reference that Trey was a Pat fan/follower in his younger days.