CJ Shearn

I agree about Maupin as the most impressive soloist. Mabern I think is solid but not spectacular. His best solos for me come on "Peyote", "416 East 10th Street" and "The Sidewinder", on disc 3 for this rendition everyone is inspired. Maupin gets the crowd going with a long segment of trilling, and Morgan gets loose. Any more thoughts before this expires as AotW?. I haven't been keeping up on the future recommendations thread, but I nominate Joe G. for Pat Metheny's "Speaking of Now" since it was a subject on a thread about his upcoming disc. Overall Live At the Lighthouse is a satisfying listen and a chance to hear Lee Morgan stretching himself, wondering "what if?" had he lived.

thanks Cali, that's right. Merritt did write "Nommo". Anyway, after finishing disc 2 tonight (will hit disc 3, the final disc tomm) It seems to me that rather than Morgan being completely off and uncomfortable on this material, he takes a different approach on "Nommo" as does Mabern. Whereas Bennie's solo takes the tune into another place, I see Lee and Harold reconnecting it with it's bluesy roots. Although as I said in another post, Lee's cadenza portion seems a bit odd. "Neophilia" is a great tune, Maupin's bass clarinet work is astounding, bursting with feeling and rocketing into higher registers in later choruses, the darkness of the reed instrument reminds me of the tones he'd get on "Vein Melter" with Herbie. Lee sounds comfortable on this tune, the rhythm section, particular Roker add some tasty commentary. Freddie Hubbard's influence shows up here in Lee, especially with his rapid trilling, so there was definitely development since the late 50's, early 60's. "Something Like This" is a cool little latin tune, does anyone know the form? I was thinking it was ABC or AB something the theme is unsually long. And the "Frere Jacque" to open "I Remember Britt" is pretty funny. Lee sounds very regal in the intro. Overall from thre first 2 discs thus far, I think disc 1 gets the edge chops wise for Lee being able to execute ideas in a cleaner fashion but like one poster said earlier his playing is less lick oriented and you can hear him searching and stretching himself even if the ideas don't always come out in the best way. There have been some comparisons here between this and Miles' Plugged Nickel (which I haven't heard but plan to get sometime soon) and while this set doesn't have the players or the innovations that positioned it in jazz history I think it shows two quintets, both trumpet led, with fine players developing and exploring material on the spot with exciting results. Both feature trumpeters in recovery from chops problems and tenor sax players who are eager at every opportunity to rip up whatever is put in their way. This is in some ways Lee Morgan's Plugged Nickel.

MoTW is a good soundtrack. There are some excellent themes, the title track is gorgeous too. However I don't pop it in all that much..... I'm at home right now and I left it at my dorm... As far as soundtracks, I had ordered the Falcon and The Snowman soundtrack but decided I wasn't in the mood to hear it right now and I cancelled it in favor of Keith Jarrett's Tokyo '96..... but..... Secret Story is IMO the top example of a wide ranging soundtrack ish Metheny score. Great writing for strings, great Synclavier use, perfectly organic sounds. I dig those blowing changes at the end of "Finding and Believing". Hey, how is the sonic quality of the Still Life vinyl compared to the CD? Pat got the rights back for the Geffen stuff or he will soon, and this may be one of the titles that would benefit from a sonic upgrade. The recording is excellent but the CD mastering shows it's age, ditto Letter From Home. Hopefully a remaster of LFH would correct the jarring levels of "Beat 70" and "Slip Away" as compared to the other tracks.

thanks Parkertown. I'm glad my very basic explanation was helpful.

interesting thought that Morgan seems lost on "Nommo". When he has that cadenza towards the end his solo, whereas Maupin took it out, Lee's bluesy ideas a la the classic "Tunisia" turn don't really fit. Anyone else thinthat if Jack DeJohnette sat in on more tracks the music probably would get considerably more out? cuz I mean that "Speedball" take goes into to me, unusual territory for Lee.

well, Parkertown, how to hear rhythm changes? heres the best way a non muso but critical listener like me can explain: first, count the number of bars in the tune. each head or "A" section of a rhythm changes tune has 8 bars. The "B" section or bridge is another 8 bars, and there is commonly no written melodyt, mainly an improv. then you head back to the "A". On "Phinupi" you'll notice Duke Jordan improvises on the "B" section, so it is what's an AABA 32 bar tune. Another example is "Oleo". Also, keep the melody "I Got Rhythm" in mind, it can help you hear the form of the tune. Also learned a simpler way of hearing blues changes.. the standard blues progression is I-IV-I-V-I. what that means is the root of the chord is "I" which lasts for four beats, then the chord shifts to the "IV" position, four steps away from the "I". the "IV" chord moves back to the "I" chord, the "I" to the "V", then back to the "I". Newk's "Blue Seven" is an example of a blues progression which is ambiguous b/c it isn't clear where the bass line that opens it up is moving sometimes and also the bizarre Monkish theme which propels it, picking notes that seem quite unrelated and making a very logical thematic statement...... well, that's how my professor analyzes it anyway. Some of the theory stuff to me is like "huh" but once I heard examples these things suddenly made sense.

while listening to Whisper Not, Always Let Me Go and Inside Out in my dorm, I've noticed that the sound quality and dynamic range seem to be more expansive than most other CD's I have. when a part is loud it sounds loud as in uncompressed, ditto for soft playing. Are ECM CD's recorded with less compression? I seem to remember hearing something similar on the Pat Metheny Group site in the forums in regard to those recordings on CD.

ok maybe I will repost this topic in Audio talk.

have some work to do so I'll listen to the set more around the last 3 of 4 days it's AotW, but here are some thoughts so far on the music from listening to the set initially a few weeks ago. Bennie Maupin is one of the things that makes this set, his solos are consistently interesting and take the music into very risky, free territory, he is also an excellent composer as "Peyote", "Something Like This" and "Nommo" demonstrate. Jack DeJohnette's inclinations towards free playing take Bennie's solo on "Speedball" and the tune itself to new places Jack's ability to play around with the time, and other things make it a great performance. Also on this set, even though the music sounds in a different direction than most of what was going on in the 70's, tunes like "The Beehive" almost predate to me the kind of things young lions would do in the 80's. The music is also under the influence of Miles' 60's quintet, especially how the soloists (Maupin on "Absolutions") relate back the melody of the tunes in their solos. Also, the latin tunes on the set seem to be a hint that Lee may have wanted to pursue that direction had he lived.

while listening to Whisper Not, Always Let Me Go and Inside Out in my dorm, I've noticed that the sound quality and dynamic range seem to be more expansive than most other CD's I have. when a part is loud it sounds loud as in uncompressed, ditto for soft playing. Are ECM CD's recorded with less compression? I seem to remember hearing something similar on the Pat Metheny Group site in the forums in regard to those recordings on CD.

Since we discussed it in another thread, I nominate Joe G. and the PMG's "Speaking of Now" as the album for next week.

Lee Morgan - Live at the Lighthouse (click to buy) start listening ahead if you'd like.

thanks GD. I already ordered "Always Let Me Go", that thing they got into on "Inside Out" was fascinating to me. Any news on whether "Up For It" is a double album or single disc?

I might go ahead and order Always Let Me Go sometime during the week. I'm intrigued by another chapter in their recent exploration of free improvisation. Thanks for the suggestions though as always more are welcome.

thanks Green Dolphin, I borrowed Whisper Not from my TA and it's a great disc, would like to get my own copy very soon and might as well do that. I wonder about that "Riot" too. Kinda odd the full thing isn't there. Ditto "341 Free Fade".

well, for my first KJ purchase I was daring and bought "Inside Out", I love it. Been contemplating between "Always Let Me Go" which continues the free improv in the trio vein, and getting my own copy of "Whisper Not"? give me some suggestions folks.

http://www.wbjazz.com/showpage.asp?code=onequietnight here is "Song For the Boys" a track off of "One Quiet Night". nice tune, lots of strumming. like a lot of Pat tunes, I hear melodic/harmonic connections to other songs and am trying to figure out which.

Simon, I must respectfully disagree with you about WLH. There is some amazing music there once you get into the layers. Then again I am into stuff with drumloops and techno ish type stuff. "Red Sky" is an awesome tune with it's 6/4 tempo and 4/4 on the bridge, it's primarily a Lyle Mays tune but Pat's synth solo is hot as are the atmospherics. ID is great as well, it has to almost be looked at from a composition/soundscape/trip factor view as Pat has said it's "music for a world that doesn't exist". Africa Brass how you like Travels? I got my first batch of Metheny real cheap on ECM vinyl too. I almost thought I lost my Travels double CD but thankfully I left it at my house over the break and brought it back to my dorm.

no actually it was Mingus X5..... I haven't really heard Black Saint and the Sinner Lady all that much.

I used to have this one. Didn't make sense to me for the longest time. What I remember now is great playing and some very jerky splices which were very noticeable on the 20 bit version from a few years ago.

yeah.... great tour. "The Gathering Sky" was something else. Antonio Sanchez is a freak of nature. Hearing "Are You Going With Me?" live was like an orgasm. It's my favorite PMG tune. I sincerely hope that live Speaking of Now DVD gets released soon.

ditto on the songbook. Even though I can't read music when I saw some of the tunes the amount of chords and meter changes it was incredible. Also Imaginary Day Live is available on DVD... great "The Roots of Coincedence" there, but hearing that tune live on the past tour was a blast. Antonio added a bit more "real" D&B flavor to it.

Joe G. if you have holes in your PMG collection. I suggest these few albums from their transitional period: e.g. post Brazillian. I think their next album which they are rumored to be in the studio for they will strike a groove that will signal the third distinct PMG era. We Live Here: a lot of people have mixed feelings about this one. Actually, this is the record that made me sit and listen 5 years ago when I was an 17 year old hard bop snob. It permanently opened my horizons. The slick veneer the record has shouldn't scare you off, theres a lot of strong stuff. including "And Then I Knew" which has a gorgeous Pat solo over a lush bed of Synclav orchestrations with interesting sounding changes. "The Girls Next Door" is a funk tune (I call it a porno funk tune. just listen to the rhythm) that has Pat getting really dirty, I love his ultra dry tone on this one with just a hint of delay. The guitar sounds like it was recorded in the bathroom. "To the End of the World" is one of the best tunes on the album and one of the PMG's best period. It's a reworking of "Are You Going With Me?" featuring a great piano solo from Mays and an awesome GR300 solo from Pat.... his entry is classic. Even better is the "We Live Here Live in Japan" DVD which has a good cross section of classic material and a few surprises like "Antonia" and "This is Not America" Quartet: just Pat, Lyle, Steve and Paul playing music mostly improvised on the spot. A very loosely produced recording, you can actually hear Paul's drums too Includes lots of wacked out fucked free stuff like "Dismantling Utopia", which in the opening section has Lyle Mays playing clavinet in the most sideways way, Herbie is the furthest thing from your mind. "When We Were Free" is a greasy blues in 3/4, hearing Pat and Lyle get real nasty on this one is a treat. Imaginary Day: continues some ideas found on Quartet but is their most far reaching album to date with everything from Chinese opera, blues- rock, techno, thrash metal, middle eastern and Celtic. A lot of fans have difficulty with this one, but not me, it's a great record, almost like the PMG doing prog-rock... every cut flows into the other and is pretty unified as a whole. As from Letter From Home, I have it on right now. It has some great tunes like "Have You Heard", "5-5-7" "Dream of the Return" and "Slip Away" but in some ways, it's the weakest of the Brazillian trilogy. The reason is this: First Circle was the one that fully brought in the element into their music, Still Life (Talking) refined it, and both these records are great from start to finish with engaging compositions. I think LFH got away from really being something from start to finish that just sucks you in. I think this has to do with the sequencing of the record more than the tunes themselves. The second half with "Are We There Yet" and "Vidala" turn it into something really intriguing by the end. the first half has some of these great but almost really sappy melodies, then the 180 into free, soundscape territory makes one get totally into the record again, if the sheen began to turn them off at the start of the record.

I preordered One Quiet Night. The preview track "Ferry Across The Mersey" was beautiful. I like most anything Pat puts out. As for Speaking of Now, wonderful album, the melodeies harken back to the accessibility of the Brazillian trilogy, but elements totally new such as Richard Bona, the trumpet playing and Antonio Sanchez. As for the Synclavier, the PMG don't use it anymore. They may have older sequences backed up in a new program, or have the Synclavier sound library stored somewhere. Lyle Mays uses a Korg Triton now which may be the source of his famous thick Oberheim patch which reappeared on SoN. Lyle programs all of his own sounds.

Lee Morgan Live at the Lighthouse