Steve Rodby

[CJ Shearn]

most of us know Steve from his role with the Pat Metheny Group, but he truly is a fine bassist. As well as an excellent producer. From what I know he has played with many cats including Milt Jackson. One of the things that truly struck me about Rodby was while listening to him on the fan made PMG companion volume 2, Pat gave Steve lots of room to stretch out, pre the especially sequencer heavy Brazillian period, and he turns in great melodic solos on tunes like "The Turnaround" by Ornette, "Offramp", and the "untitled #6" which contains the tune "Au Lait". I think Steve has been the right bassist for PMG, his time, note choices and tone are great. I'd be interested to hear him in other contexts. Anyone else appreciate Mr. Rodby, or have recommendations for other projects he's on?

[Chuck Nessa]

To tired right now and going to bed soon but remind me to tell you about Rodby and Art Pepper.

[Chuck Nessa]

Well, it's 40 minutes later and I'm not in bed so I should respond. In July of '77 Art played in Chicago for a week on his way to NY to record at the Vanguard. It was a week of extreme highs and lows for Art and Laurie. Those of us watching were enthralled by the melodrama of missed "connections" etc. Rodby was on the gig and at the end of the week Art (deeply impressed by Steve's playing) invited him to go to NY for the Vanguard gig. Upon arrival in the "big city" Rodby was informed they "already had a bass player".

Maybe Larry remembers more detail.

[Guest akanalog]

i think i am confusing him with the egan guy.

[Larry Kart]

I don't know any more about the Rodby-Pepper story, but I do remember a time later on when Lee Konitz played the Jazz Showcase with a Jodie Christian-Rodby-Wilbur Campbell rhythm section. Lee wanted them to play as freely as possible within his concept of freedom (the "ten levels of paraphrase" thing), and by the final tune of the first set, they were definitely on level ten, with Rodby more than holding up his end. I heard him a good bit in those days; he reminded me of the young Steve Swallow, when Swallow still played acoustic bass.

[CJ Shearn]

Interesting Rodby story Chuck. I think something that makes Steve such a good player is he has such an intuitive feeling for the tune, which especially with Pat comes through, where often the basslines are very complicated with weird changes. Steve flavors them extremely well, and because he was a studio player in Chicago, that sense of playing things well comes through. Of course if you listen to a PMG live performance Rodby's basslines take a different shape than the studio versions for the most part. I'm always hooked on to the bass playing on those records. Sometimes when he solos, his phrasing reminds me of Eddie Gomez or Scott LaFaro, for evidence, check his solo on "How Insensitive" on the "Secret Story" DVD. Also, from what I understand, he's a helluva nice guy too. He sure beats Ron Carter in the intonation department!

Edited August 12, 2006 by CJ Shearn

[tjobbe]

one of my favourites is a set with Ross Traut called "The duo Life" which not a straight jazz records but a very enjoyable one for a winter at the open fireplaces where he plays beside some Corea/Shorter a bunch of pop classics.

Cheers, Tjobbe

[CJ Shearn]

I believe I saw that "Duo Life" album used and almost picked it up, something I will look for in any case, thanks

[Parkertown]

One of the things that truly struck me about Rodby was while listening to him on the fan made PMG companion volume 2

...and the "untitled #6" which contains the tune "Au Lait".

Hey CJ,

Can you please provide more info about these? "Fan made PMG companion"? "untitled #6"?

I only know "Au Lait" as just that, "Au Lait."

Please 'splain...

[CJ Shearn]

Sure. The folks who run the Metheny Archive Appreciation Project and others who excavate older PMG shows, remaster them for trading, have issued a few Pat Metheny Group Companions....... the first volume, a 3 disc set, covering the 1976-80 period (with tunes predating the PMG self titled debut) had songs that were never officially recorded in the studio, a lot of standards, a piece that would later be the main theme of "The Way Up", and live versions of tunes which did not appear on official live releases.

Volume 2 released 2 weeks ago and available at http://bt.etree.org or www.dimeadozen.org is a 2 disc set covering the 1981-2 tour period which produced the "Travels" album. There are early versions of pieces such as "Better Days Ahead" "(It's Just) Talk" and "Mas Alla" which are drastically different from the final versions, and never before recorded pieces such as "Unidentified #6" (5 unidentified tunes without titles are on the first compilation) which includes Pat and Lyle both burning on a boogie woogie rhythm, which then goes into a groove section that sounds like "Benny and the Jets" before Lyle solos on the boogie woogie groove. The tune then transitions into "Au Lait", with a long bass solo from Rodby, which is gorgeous. Each tune is from a soundboard so the quality is excellent, and combined with "Travels" the Companion volume 2 provides you with every live piece the PMG played in that time. There are many straight ahead tunes, and even a cover of Keith Jarrett's "The Windup".

Edited August 13, 2006 by CJ Shearn