As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls - Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays

Mar

20

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls - Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays

≡ Category: 1980s, Highly Recommended, Non-Jazz, Reviews, Vocals, World Fusion |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is barely jazz. The main influences are pop structures, folk, a hint of bluegrass, and a little Brazilian. So why am I reviewing it?

Well, first of all, it’s a Pat Metheny recording, and through sheer hard work and dedication over the years, Pat has become one of our greatest living jazz guitarists. Second, it’s the first consistently good Pat Metheny record, followed closely after by 80/81.

On As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, Pat is co-headlining with keyboardist Lyle Mays, a key part of the Pat Metheny Group. He also has invaluable assistance from Nana Vasconcelos, a Brazilian percussionist.

The title tune, which is over twenty minutes long, starts off with a couple of straight up poppy themes before heading into a long stretch that’s like a tone poem, heavily dominated by Nana Vasconcelos’ percussion and the lovely synthesizer textures of Lyle Mays. One of the things you have to give Lyle Mays is that his synth programming is probably the most organic sounding in jazz, with the possible exception of Jim Beard. Eventually, the tune segues into the second theme, with Lyle playing some very simple eighth note improvisation. It doesn’t sound like much, but As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is really quite beautiful and evocative.

Then we have the most heavily improvisatory piece on the date, Ozark, seemingly inspired by American folk music and possibly Aaron Copeland. It’s an upbeat piece foregrounded with Mays’ acoustic piano and Vasconcelos’ percussion, with Metheny adding grace notes here and there on twelve string guitar. The theme is straightforward enough, but eventually Mays gets into an extensive free improvisation based on the theme, maintaining the fast tempo. It’s quite a performance, reminiscent in some ways of Keith Jarrett’s work on Facing You, but Mays is very much his own man.

Then we’ve got the lovely and lyrical tribute to Bill Evans, September Fifteenth. Metheny alternates between arpeggios that outline the harmony and playing the melody. Mays is a ghostly presence on synthesizer, either underlining Metheny’s acoustic guitar or floating above. September Fifteenth is probably the first time Metheny really revealed his sumptious tone on acoustic guitar, which he exploited to such wonderful effect on 2003’s One Quiet Night.

“It’s For You” starts out in a folk rock vein, with Metheny strumming away open chords on acoustic guitar, before Mays’ melody on synth lifts the tune into a more sophisticated dimension.

If Metheny and Mays had stopped there, As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls would have been an absolute, one of a kind classic.

Unfortunately, Estupenda Graca is marred by the vocals of Nana Vasconcelos, which is kind of surprising. I’ve heard Vasconcelos sing in many other contexts, and he can be effective, but obviously not when singing ballads. Estupenda Graca is a reworking of Amazing Grace, but with lots of harmonic inventions inspired in part by Brazilian music, especially that of Milton Nascimento, who Metheny clearly admires. If it weren’t for Nana Vasconcelos, Estupenda Graca would actually be pretty, I think, and a fitting ending to As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. As it is, I’ll have to take a half a star off my rating.