{"id":2949,"date":"2011-09-21T00:26:49","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T07:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=2949"},"modified":"2011-09-21T00:30:28","modified_gmt":"2011-09-21T07:30:28","slug":"metheny-and-grenadier-at-the-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2011\/09\/metheny-and-grenadier-at-the-seasons\/","title":{"rendered":"Metheny And Grenadier At The Seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pat Metheny and Larry Grenadier and a truckload of equipment are on a 26-city tour. They warmed up the other night with a first stop at The Seasons Performance Hall in Yakima, Washington. The tour will end in mid-October with a week at the Blue Note in New York City. <\/p>\n

The equipment played a major role in Metheny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Grenadier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two-concert evening at The Seasons, but their most satisfying moments came when they dialed down the amplification, ignored the panoply of digitally driven instruments occupying the back of the stage and achieved the intimacy that Metheny said was his goal for the music. His solo on the piece that began the second concert, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All the Things You Are,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ranks with the best playing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever heard from him. His final chorus of ascending chromatic figures was an expression of sheer joy.<\/p>\n

\nThe guitarist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name and reputation were the draw that nearly filled the hall twice. It may be that Grenadier was unknown to most of the audience \"\"<\/a>when they walked in. By the end of the evening, the energy, musicianship and power of his bass playing made it unlikely that they will forget him. Introducing Grenadier, Metheny said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only one I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d do this kind of tour with.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Grenadier managed to retain the woody acoustic essence of his instrument despite excessive amplification in a hall with near-perfect natural sound properties. The melodic inventiveness of his solos often matched Metheny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. His rhythmic drive supplied consistent excitement. The blues groove of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Soul Cowboy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d led Metheny to exquisite subtlety in his single-note lines. The nuances continued in his quiet accompaniment of a Grenadier bass solo that moved some listeners to audible \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yeahs\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and a few indiscreet whoops. <\/p>\n

Exotica reigned in the first concert with Metheny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unaccompanied performance of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Sound of Water\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on an elaborate custom instrument. George Van Eps used to call his guitar a lap piano. Metheny could fairly describe his 47-string guitar as a lap orchestra. Darned if he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t approximate the sound of water. <\/p>\n

After speaking about his long love of music-making through\"\"<\/a> electricity—\u00e2\u20ac\u009dMy first instrument was a wall plug”—Metheny announced that he and Grenadier would indulge in pure improvisation. They began as a duo but were soon joined by an illuminated device that flashed and sounded gongs in rhythm. Then with swift drama, the road crew lifted black covers off an astonishing array of equipment—an accordion, a marimba, a glockenspiel, sets of cymbals, a bass drum, a conga drum, a snare drum, ranks of jugs filled with varying levels of mineral water, and a few things it was impossible to see from the cheap seats. It was the orchestrion, or Metheny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s computerized variant of it, controlled through solenoids actuated by his guitar and several foot pedals.<\/p>\n

Well, it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work too well at the first concert. At the second, all of the synapses of the electronic brain were firing and we got a wild few minutes of rhythmic and visual display complete with echo, looping repetition, a percussion fiesta and accordion sounds that sometimes approximated trumpets. In one section, as Metheny wailed away, Grenadier used his bow to set a bass riff. It was fascinating and funny, a kind of musical vaudeville. When it ended, Metheny said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible to explain, so we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just gonna keep playing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And they did. In the course of the evening, they visited several of Metheny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatest hits, among them \u00e2\u20ac\u0153James,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bright Size Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Farmer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Trust.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

What Metheny said would be the closing number turned out to be a highlight of both concerts. It was Dizzy Gillespie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Con Alma,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with no orchestrion supplements, fine solos from both musicians and a tag ending in which they anticipated one another beautifully. There was an anonymous-sounding Metheny solo encore, but it was the pure music of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153James,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Con Alma, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All the Things You Are,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Autumn Leaves\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and a few other pieces that lingered in the mind as the orchestrion entertainment extravaganza faded away.<\/p>\n

In this video from the 2009 Umbria Jazz festival in Italy, Metheny and Grenadier play the kind of music they made in the quieter moments at The Seasons. If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand Italian, you may want to fast-forward to 1:15<\/p>\n