Bob Gluck's Blog

Pat Metheny’s Fall 2023 – Spring 2024 solo tour in North America and Japan has now concluded. The final week or two overlapped with an earthquake and a solar eclipse, providing some background drama. The tour picks up again in Europe in Fall 2024. Some of you have seen the shows and maybe even followed their evolution by seeing more than one (I was fortunate to have that experience, having attended a Fall and Spring show). Others may not have seen the solo show and may yet do so; thus, I’m not going to give away any of its surprising, dramatic moments beyond saying that I particularly like what they look like, this Spring, and I’m imagining even further development.

The April show showcased the baritone guitar even in greater depth than it had the previous September. I believe that three of these guitars were included in April. There was a substantive amount of music played that was originally recorded on Pat Metheny’s two baritone guitar albums One Quiet Night (2003) and What’s It All About (2011), and from the Charlie Haden-Pat Metheny duo album Beyond the Missouri Sky (1997).

These mini sets were preceded by what has been a show opener for most or all of Pat Metheny’s tours in recent years, including the Side Eye trio project. This segment presents a musical smorgasbord spanning decades of Metheny’s compositions, from “Phase Dance” (from the inaugural 1978 Pat Metheny Group album) and “Minuano (Six Eight),” (from Still Life (Talking, 1987) to music from his most recent “quiet electric guitar” release, Dream Box (2023). What is most fun about this opening panoply of music is the way Metheny weaves one tune or fragment of a tune in and out of another, sometimes returning to a snippet of something played earlier. A good example was his treatment of “Phase Dance,” around which other material was interspersed and referenced. The Styne/Cahn standard, “I Fall In Love Too Easily.” This ballad was lifetime favorite of Miles Davis, and it was exquisitely played by Metheny, who turns it upside down and sideways while maintaining the form.

What is striking about the baritone acoustic guitars is several-fold. First, the simple fact of making a focal point of these guitars, which have historically been generally used as background instruments. Next, the lowest string on a baritone is a perfect fifth below the lowest string on a conventional (and conventionally tuned) acoustic guitar. This affords the guitarist access to notes that might ordinarily be played on a bass. This low register, along with the booming sound of that bottom string, is something Pat Metheny uses to great effect. Third, Metheny (often) tunes these instruments in a way that dramatically impacts the sonic qualities of the guitar. Let me explain.

There is a tradition, often associated with country music, of tuning guitars in “Nashville tuning.” This means that the bottom four of the six strings are tuned an octave higher than their normal pitches, with the top two strings remaining within their own register. The result can suggest a semblance of a twelve-string guitar sound. But Metheny makes use of what he calls “half Nashville” tuning. Only the middle two strings are tuned an octave up. Thus, the bottom two notes are quite low in pitch, the next two are unusually high, and the top two are in their usual register. This overall effect is accentuated by tuning each of the strings down by a whole step, such that the top and bottom strings are “A” rather than “B.” The resonance of the lowest string is even further heightened, and bass lines are better facilitated. Metheny recalls learning about this idea from a guitarist neighbor in his home town, when Metheny was a teenager.

As a result, the baritone has become a hybrid instrument, one that might be described as three distinct pairs of strings attached to the same wooden body. There are various acoustic effects that occur because pitch relations are changing due to the tunings, but most important to me, the reconfiguration allows Metheny to treat each string pair as a distinct voice. During the April show, Metheny offered the audience the useful suggestion that we think of the baritones as three pairs of violins, violas, and basses. This, in my experience, rung true. The “half Nashville” tuned instrument had become timbrally orchestral in its sonic qualities, with each string pair offering something distinct in of itself. Metheny draws upon this illusion of multiple guitars-in-one by differentiating the dynamic levels by which he articulates each string pair. 

The experience of watching and listening to the results of this unusual approach to tuning can be decentering. It was for me. I am used to associating the “look” of the guitar string configuration rings as ascending from bottom up, but this is not the case with the “half Nashville” tuning. Now, a melody or solo line may appear in the center rather than top strings, or it can be heard on the top strings while the higher, middle strings play a harmonic role.

This effect has been heightened even further by Metheny’s (assisted by guitar tech Andre Cholmondeley) choice of a gauge (thicknesses) that most effectively allows these 3^rd and 4^th (middle) strings to “sing.” This sweet spot nets a rich sound that projects throughout the hall, heightening the distinctions between the three string pairs. I experienced this guitar as if it were several separate instruments played at once. It goes to show that it takes great sensitivity (and experimentation) to maximize the potential of a fine acoustic instrument. Metheny’s forthcoming album MoonDial will feature this baritone guitar.

Following the opening set, Metheny played most or all of his (first) Charlie Haden duet record. The version of Haden’s “My Spanish Love Song” on this April evening was particularly affecting, as was Metheny’s rendition of “Cinema Paradiso.” This evening’s steel string baritone selections from “One Quiet Night” provided a sharp sonic contrast with the other baritone guitars. After hearing the quieter instruments, the steels boomed with energy and zing. A subsequent set including much of the album What’s It All About focused on interpretations (rather than “covers”) of songs particularly familiar from the childhoods and early adulthood of baby boomers like me (Burt Bachrach, Carly Simon…).

There was one more abstract, percussive piece early in the show that Metheny has been developing over the months. For those unfamiliar with less tonal music, you might very loosely identify this piece as an acoustic relative of Zero Tolerance For Silence. It was fascinating to see how this recent addition to Metheny’s repertoire has grown in six months.

The abstract piece was also one of several during the evening that made extensive use of looping. Mid- and late-show, Metheny looped bass lines and comping, often on the baritone guitar, to build a multi-layered “solo” performance. As in every other aspect of the tech side of Pat Metheny’s solo shows the electronics are so well integrated as to become extensions of the instruments Metheny is playing. This is in contrast to their seeming like something external that has been imposed. The technologies incorporated within Metheny’s shows deserves their own discussion, but this integral quality is important to note. There really is no meaningful line to be drawn dividing acoustic from electronic in these performances.

Pat Metheny’s seamless integration electronics is a subset of a broader truth about the solo shows. My perception is that Metheny is really playing one instrument across the entire show. Yes, it is comprised of many, many parts, but these together make up one organic whole. The sheer number of guitars and other elements that may appear on stage is overridden by the perception that it is all part of one thing. This, it seemed to me, was what held the rapt attention of an audience throughout two and a half hours of a solo performances that required close listening. Yes, there were some bells and whistles, and they are fun to see and hear, but that isn’t what makes the show so successful.

If you live or are traveling in Europe during Fall 2024, consider attending one or more shows during the next leg of this tour. The music and performance will surely have continued to grow by then and across each of those nightly engagements.

~ by bobgluck on April 16, 2024.

Posted in Memories of shows, musical content, musical perception, Pat Metheny, Personal notes
Tags: acoustic guitar, Andre cholmondeley, baritone guitar, bob gluck, guitar, improvisation, jazz, Linda Manzer, Pat Metheny