Bob Gluck's Blog

The impetus for this, my fourth book about musicians and their musical ideas, began with playing Pat Metheny’s music. In brief, one evening, Pat gave me a copy of his latest songbook. I began to play through dozens of tunes, and eventually brought them into gigs. This began as an acoustic, piano-bass duo with Christopher Dean Sullivan. Chris and I have worked on many projects together for about fifteen years and we always have instant rapport. This proved true when playing the 15 tunes I chose, having begun with 25 possibilities.

Soon after the duo gig, I received an invitation to play as part of a outdoors summer series. The choice of an outdoor space proved fortuitous since the pandemic was rapidly on the rise. Chris suggested Karl Latham as drummer, and I’ve never looked back from what proved to be a terrific choice. We continued to play from a remote studio that allowed enough separation between the three of us to remain safe. From there we began to stream live performances, as part of the “Live from the Cabin” series. One of those sessions netted a terrific recording that will hopefully be released this year. The core repertoire continued to be music by Pat Metheny. Information about the recording will be posted at https://electricsongs.com/transcendencemusic/ as it takes flight.

During the period when these concerts were taking place, across the entirety of 2020, I was tossing around ideas for a new book. As is often the case, when I am intensely engaged in playing music, I often find myself beginning to write about what I find to be its essential core. I started taking notes, outlined a proposed format, and then contacted Pat Metheny to get his feeling about my doing a book. He was all in and that began my three year authorial (and editing and rewriting and rewriting) journey. The book, published in early August 2024 by University of Chicago Press, is now available. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo219240046.html

As in the past, I’ve begun to schedule book release events. My favorite way to do these is to return to the mode by which the books begin – by playing the music. My goal when playing isn’t to replicate another musician’s work, but to place my own mark on that person’s compositions. Thus, the set lists for performances aligned with book chats include music that exemplifies ideas I explore in the book. In this way, two goals are met – playing the music, and guiding potential readers and music lovers through some of its ideas.

The band with which this odyssey began and now resumes is a trio we are now calling Transcendence. It features Karl Latham on drums, Christopher Dean Sullivan on bass, and myself on keyboards. The band has a newly minted website that links videos, sounds, bios, and a calendar. Take a look! – https://electricsongs.com/transcendencemusic/.

If you are nearby one of the events, do come, check us out, support the band and the book. And learn something that may be new about the musical thinking of Pat Metheny.

~ by bobgluck on September 6, 2024.

Posted in Crafting the text, In the hands of readers, Pat Metheny, playing the music, the book's life in the world
Tags: bob gluck, christopherdeansullivan, jazz, jazztrio, karllatham, Pat Metheny, transcendence