Hey Marco,
I can tell you right now, as a fan of Pat Metheny for
the last 20 years, that you just can't get a good
appreciation for his music by skimming the surface.
I've researched the living shit out of every article I
could ever get my hands on to gain insight into what
makes him tick. If you've ever read any interview with
him, he obviously doesn't care one iota about the
business side of the music industry. His focus is
pretty damn sharp. (BTW, check out the Q + A section
of his website, www.patmethenygroup.com, and find out
how much he HATES smooth jazz and new age. To
quote-"there is no new age, only bad jazz"; "the whole
smooth jazz thing literally makes me sick")
You see, I think we all experience things we
like, and then we hit on something that we feel speaks
directly to us. Pat's music has done that for me, and
it all goes so far beyond style and category as to
make it a complete non-issue. When someone can play
music that makes me cry, I'm all ears. What irritates
me to no end is how the critics can just write his
more accessible stuff so easily, but when he goes off
on a free-form and dissonant tangent, the praise rolls
in. In my mind, that half-assed attitude does more to
damage the reputation of the critics community.
In short, if you want to give Pat's music a fair
shake, check out some of his ECM Works(1 & 2) stuff,
plus his great live discs(Travels + The Road To You).
Most importantly, see him live any chance you get. If
you pay attention, you will see a master musician at
the top of his game pushing boundaries like they
should be.
Take Care-----Paul Berger---
--- Marco Baroni <baroni@humnet.ucla.edu> wrote:
> >earlier def's of acid jazz and off-topic:
> >http://www.cmd.uu.se/AcidJazz/FAQ/
>
>
> Thanks -- I followed this link and it was helpful,
> but I still have the
> impression that, in practice, people in this list
> talk about a lot of other
> things that are not mentioned over there, like
> Brazilian music and
> non-jazz-oriented underground hip hop, and that this
> is fine and one of the
> reasons why the list is interesting.
>
> Also, I feel that it can be interesting and not
> necessarily off topic to
> read about what are the favorite rock guitarists of
> the acid jazz experts
> in this list, or what rare groove fans think of
> Chemical Brothers (in the
> same way in which I find it interesting and
> instructive when I read
> interviews of my favorite musicians in which they
> mention completely
> unexpected influences.)
>
> For example, a few days ago there was a discussion
> about Pat Metheny. Now,
> I don't think that Metheny's music is acid jazz, no
> matter how you define
> the term. Actually, I used to believe that he's an
> awful new agey smooth
> jazz guitar player. But, by reading of how many
> people from the list like
> him and respect him, I became curious, and I will
> maybe end up buying one
> of the albums that were recommended. Since this is
> an acid jazz list, and I
> know that I have similar music taste to many of the
> people contributing to
> it, I am more willing to trust their opinion about
> Pat Metheny, than if it
> came from the people subscribing to, I don't know,
> the new-agey-smooth-jazz
> list...
>
> Regards,
>
> Marco
>
>
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