“Oasis” provides a very early counterexample to the notion that the music of Pat Metheny tends toward lightweight fare, closer to new age or (worse) smooth jazz than anything from the “real” jazz tradition. Built atop a cloud of acoustic guitar arpeggios, we have a very early (and somewhat dark) hint at what would become one of Metheny’s signatures: the wordless vocal line.
The credits list 12-String bass guitar, guitar, 12-string guitar, and harp guitar…none of which give a clear indication of what Pat used to produce that eerie melodic line around which those gauzy arpeggios bloom. The interesting thing here is that there’s nothing fancy going on, just a very simple, almost mourning melody — a melody given color by its surroundings. And to my ear, the human vocal qualities of that melody foreshadow Metheny’s use of actual vocals in later contexts beginning with Nana Vasconcelos on As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls.
As with much of the material from Watercolors, I’ve never heard Pat rework this one in a live setting. It’d sure be nice though…
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Great point Mark, and one I can say I did not pick up on. Whatever stringed instrument it is, it does fit the profile of what eventually becomes the wordless vocals (as performed by Nana, Pedro Aznar, etc, ultimately culminating with Richard Bona). As an aside, the wordless vocal is typically the “tipping point” for my musical comrades, who try to love Pat’s music, but just can’t get into it…
“Oasis”, and a few others on this release, are interesting pieces in Pat’s history. Since this album predates what we know as the up-and-running PMG, the focus on this record was not necessarily on how playable the songs would be in a live setting (something that would drastically change with ‘The White Album’). So you get some album cuts. I’ve always questioned how much Pat was influenced (either directly, or indirectly) during this time to have some tunes that fit the “ECM” sound for the time. He would become a huge earner for Manfred Eicher, but early on, he may have not had the clout to create as he really wanted. It is well documented that by the time of ‘The First Circle’, the ECM approach to recording/mixing records was not working for Pat and the Group.
Also, it is kind of funny that this tune was included in the Songbook. It fits on a page, basically says the key it is in, and mentions to arpeggiate freely 🙂