Be sure to read Part 1, which focuses on Joni Mitchell’s song “Furry Sings the Blues” and her distinctive use of alternate tunings.
As
noted in Part 1, Metheny’s presence in Mitchell’s touring band is one among his
rare appearances as a sideman to an artist from outside the jazz world. Well
before his 1979 gig as Mitchell’s lead guitarist, Pat Metheny had in place a
sound and style very much his own. Throughout much of the show, he presses his
well-known tone—via a Gibson Es-175 into a pair of clean Acoustic combos,
gently enhanced with asymmetrical delay settings—into the service of songs
distant from his own.
Be sure to check back on July 7 for part 2, which will focus on Pat Metheny’s contribution to “Furry Sings the Blues.”
Joni
Mitchell’s “Shadows and Light” is a brilliant performance document that brings
together stage translations of the singer/songwriter/guitarist’s mid-70s
period. During this interval, Mitchell released one after another adventurous
album: Court and Spark (1974), The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975), Hejira (1976), Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977), and Mingus (1979). In contrast to the folk and softer rock leanings of
her earlier recordings, the brief on this sequence of albums was strongly
informed by jazz, and Mitchell brought aboard some of the most cutting-edge
jazz musicians of the era, perhaps most notably electric bass innovator and
virtuoso Jaco Pastorius.
Although Mitchell herself is the essential guitar presence
on her albums, she invited occasional additions from jazz-rock lead player
Larry Carlton and Robben Ford. By the time of the late 1979 gigs that led to Shadows and Light, her live band
included one of the most innovative young jazz guitarists of the time: Pat
Metheny. Four years out from his 1976 debut and close to the cusp of releasing American Garage, Metheny was in what
have proven to be rare circumstances in his lengthy and still-evolving career.
Say
what you must about the group that shapeshifted from the band that made “Somebody
to Love” to the band that made “We Built This City,” but anyone who wants to
dis them too hard has to reckon with the high points of their output. While
never a megahit, “Jane” has been an FM radio staple for four decades and may
well be the most identifiable single from the Jefferson Starship incarnation.
Much of its enduring appeal resides in the contributions of rhythm guitarist Paul
Kantner and lead guitarist Craig Chaquico.
Beginning
with a clean, phase-shifted arpeggiated Em7-Gmaj7 riff, the guitarists quickly kick
on crunchy sounds and cue the rhythm section with a pick-up that precedes the
tight and punchy main riff. The riff is simple, but the song resists reduction
to a bonehead riff with dramatic chromatic climbs, a faux-Carribean breakdown,
and a key change leading into the guitar solo.
In the week
before Gold & Grey dropped, on
June 14, Baroness played a series of small gigs, including an in-store
appearance at Vintage Vinyl and a full-on electric performance at the Gutter, a
Brooklyn, NY, bar.
Below are
videos of both above-mentioned short sets, each of which is totally worthwhile,
along with some thoughts about them. Please share your comments!
● I
can’t think of any other band that does two-guitar harmonies in which both
guitarists use single-coil pickups. The reduced sustain (as compared to
humbuckers) and the pokier high frequencies of single-coils emphasize the sound
of two guitars together. With some bands, I frequently hear guitar harmonies as
two players trying to sound like one. I dig that sound a lot, but there are other
possibilities.
In under one year, New York-based jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman has released two strong collections as the primary artist: Ask for Chaos (September 2018) and Further Chaos (May 2019). Each features tracks by two ensembles that Hekselman leads. His GHex Trio consists of Helselman’s guitar, accompanied by stand-up bass and drums. In ZuperOctave, Hekselman takes charge of both of guitar and bass in a setting that also includes keyboardist Aaron Parks and drummer/percussionist Kush Abadey. With Hekselman making liberal and dramatic use of effects and his bandmates also embracing electronics, ZuperOctave finds startling and original sonic territory. It’s electronically-touched organic music that is, above all, jazz. More specifically, it’s sonically exploratory, harmonically adventurous jazz that doesn’t sound to me like what is usually called “fusion,” for the lack of rock-oriented beats. The track “Stumble,” from Ask for Chaos, is one among many ZuperOctave highlights.
“Stumble” arrested me immediately with its
memorable opening melodic figure and a lush sound so whole it’s sometimes hard
to tease apart Parks’s keyboards from Hekselman’s guitar.
The music of Baroness centers on guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/visual artist John Baizley, who is one of those people who can smile and still radiate heaviness. While the tracks released ahead of the June 14 release of Gold & Grey bear his unmistakable stamp, the band’s current lineup offers power and flexibility not heard even on its high-water mark album, 2012’s Yellow & Green or its acclaimed follow-up, Purple.
