Pat's rant, Harry's rant, Don's rant.

[Don Tillman]

Since Pat Metheny was mentioned in this discussion, here's a quote
direct from Pat:

  "Yeah, i love that blue box- the gr300 thing. in fact, i think most
  people seem to think that the sound that i use on tracks like 'We
  Live Here' or 'Are You Going with Me?' is the Synclavier when in
  fact it's this cheap, obsolete, 1979 technology weirdo guitar synth,
  the GR300.  It's a sound that has got some funk in it.  It's not
  'clean' the way most synths are, it's kind of raw.  I love it."
	
[Go to http://www.patmethenygroup.com, click on "american garage",
click on "q and a", click on "guitars", click on "Roland GR300"]

I think it's great that Pat Metheny has spent a significant amount of
time answering questions from fans on his web site.  Most of the
answers are informative, interesting and polite.  However...

You might also be interested in checking out his opinions of Kenny G.
Apparently Kenny G just released a classic recording of Louis
Armstrong's with Kenny's noodling all over it.

  "This type of musical necrophilia - the technique of overdubbing on 
  the preexisting tracks of already dead performers - was weird when
  Natalie Cole did it with her dad on 'Unforgettable' a few years ago,
  but it was her dad."
[...]

  "But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile 
  the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that
  has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy,
  out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing all over one of
  the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did
  something that I would not have imagined possible.  He, in one 
  move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical
  decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all
  over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have
  risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and
  years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace
  that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an
  amazing lifetime as a musician."

[Go to http://www.patmethenygroup.com, click on "american garage",
click on "q and a", click on "other musicians", click on "Controversy
and Kenny G (complete)"]

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don at till.com
http://www.till.com