Posted by On June 28th, 2009 the Ottawa Jazz Festival hosted a quartet that was so littered with brilliant, esoteric talent that leaving the concert – bereft as it was of any hummable melody or straight-up foot-tappers – just because of a little bit of rain was pretty much unthinkable. Heck, the only thing as consistent as the drizzling clouds was the high quality of the outside-but-not-outside-enough-to-be-truly-interesting jazz that was being doled out by the Gary Burton Quartet.
Never heard of Gary Burton? Well, let me flesh out the group a little and we’ll see if it helps: The widely-recorded vibraphonist’s group included Steve Swallow on bass, Antonio Sánchez on drums, and Pat Metheny on guitar, and if you don’t know any of those particular names you most certainly know people those dudes played with. The “six degrees of separation” ratio between these four musicians and the rest of the jazz world is pretty low, to be sure. But c’mon now, everybody has heard of Pat Metheny*, right? Or is that just me letting my guitarist bias show?
(Truth be told I’ve never been a Metheny fan. He’s always sounded like high-falutin’ elevator music to me, and believe me, I’m aware that to others a statement like that is nothing short of sacrilege. I suspect the reason I feel this way is because I stopped listening to Metheny right where I started: with his debut album Bright Size Life, which I purchased solely because Jaco Pastorius plays on it. It’s very elevatory. And I like elevator music!)
Overall it was a really interesting show. First off, who doesn’t like the wiggly brilliance of the vibraphone, especially in the hands of such a master? Secondly, Metheny was sporting his 42-string Pikasso guitar, a rambunctious conglomeration of machine heads and angled fretboards that is just as unique as it is wacky, and it’s a one-of-a-kind. Heck, if the Canadian luthier that created it made another one I’m sure it would hang (somehow) on the shop wall for a loooong time before another Pat Metheny walked into the store looking for one. Anyway, it was a nifty contraption to actually see and hear the Pikasso in person after having read about it in a plethora of ’80’s guitar-geek periodicals.
And thirdly, well…thirdly is the stellar lineup that I already listed. The bottom line here is that you just can’t have that kind of talent and longevity rehearse a tour together and not come up with something worth listening to. Okay, you can, but it’s rare.
Okay, it’s not that rare. But this wasn’t one of those cases.
*Over the years I have a developed a small (but effective) collection of words and phrases that I intentionally mispronounce with the sole objective of being corrected**. One of my favourites is to mispronounce Pat Methany’s last name. It should sound like “muh-theen-ee”, but I say it like “meth-un-ee”. Clearly I’m a guy who really knows how to have a good time.
**I have no idea why I do this but I do, every time. Other words in this personal pack-o-fun include but are not limited to: Foodland, creamsicle, TV, wifi, and Saskatchewan***.
***”saska-chew-on”. Try it, it’s fun!
Todd Man Out 