Pat Metheny: Speaks of Now

#7AAJ: Do you find that the current audiences at festivals overseas appreciate different aspects of what you (and other jazz artists) do more than domestic audiences?
PM: I was hoping I would never have to say yes to that question – for many years, I was very fortunate to be able to say that the audiences that would come out to see us anywhere in the states could rival those that we found anywhere else in the world. But, I can’t anymore.
This country has really changed. It seemed to start around the time that Reagan first got elected. the culture of America now seems to be far less concerned with art in general. people don’t want to leave their houses too much and feel much more inclined to just sit in front of their TV’s and hang on the internet and just chill out at home. People resent having to pay taxes to support education – particularly for the arts – while they are oblivious to the cultural deterioration that surrounds them. It seems that they really, honestly, just don’t care.
A couple of years ago, I went to see Aretha Franklin at Madison Square Garden. she was headlining a kind of all-star bill of musicians, and she was the last one to come on, it was probably about 10 pm when she hit the stage. It was killing. You could not have asked for more, Aretha at her very best. But after a few tunes, I noticed that people started leaving, then leaving in droves, while Aretha was up there singing her ass off. by the time her set was over, at about 10:45, there were maybe 500 people left. it became clear that everyone just wanted to get home – it wasn’t like they weren’t digging it or were offended or anything, they had just had enough for the night, they came at 7:30 and were tired and just wanted to split. It struck me at that moment how the culture had changed. It was so rude, so disrespectful, so shallow – so remote-control-tv driven a behavior. And since then, I notice it now too at our shows – about 20 minutes before the end, people leave to beat the rush. I see it at sports games – the local hometown team is behind, let’s all split.
AAJ: Yeah, it’s a shame. They just want to get home before they get trapped in the parking lot. Like the Zappa tune, “America Drinks and Goes Home” elicits, it’s become sort of a habit domestically, even though its by no means a comment on the quality of a given program.
PM: The utter lack of deep support and energy that people used to routinely and welcomely offer to their culture has been replaced by a kind of malaise that seems to be everywhere here.
Happily, Europe and Japan have remained mostly impervious to this dumbing down thing that engulfs the states. audiences there are better informed, more enthusiastic and maybe most exciting of all, younger than ever before. And I have to say that more and more, the best musicians are coming from places other than the U.S. as a result. the ultimate irony in this however is that local musicians in these quite sophisticated and musically educated societies have the same problems in their own countries that we have here. For instance, German musicians – and there are many excellent ones – are not embraced by the German public the same way that they embrace American musicians, or at least, that is how it seems to me.
AAJ: Right. Its a strange phenomena that some artists seem to have to leave home to make it. Like Hendrix only made it to a certain level until he went to London and came back successful on a whole other level. From comparing various live tapes I’ve had or heard, Miles used to seem to take more chances in places like Italy than he might in California. Do you find yourself playing differently in Europe, Japan or South America than here due to your knowledge of the expectations of certain audiences?
PM: As far as Miles went, I heard him often in the states, Japan and Europe – and I don’t think you could really support that argument with the actual music that he played. He usually sounded great everywhere and he seemed to me to be one of those kinds of musicians who took the audience to a place that they could rarely imagine no matter where they happen to find themselves due to the realities of geography. Maybe the one of the major elements in Miles’ genius was the way he could connect with people with just a few notes and then keep them there with him all night.
I would say that it is very hard to generalize about audiences. You may have a great gig in place ‘x’ on one tour and it could be not as great the next time. For that matter, sometimes you play multi-night engagements somewhere and every night there is a totally different vibe. You just have to stay open to what it really happening while it is happening and be ready to be surprised. but after all this talk about audiences, I guess I need to add since this is really the answer to the question – the most important thing, and to my experience the only thing that really works, is to play for yourself – anything else is guessing.
#8 AAJ: Yeah. No, of course Miles was almost always on, I meant that a different side of what he did was sometimes more apparent in certain geographies than others, and as honest as he was to the music this was probably not a conscious thing. What, for you, signifies a successful performance or recorded statement?
PM: How well I sleep that night after a gig. For records, if I listen to it a lot in that unique period between what happens between the completion of the mastering and the time of it’s release. But having said that, I am the first to acknowledge that my own perception of whatever I do is not to be trusted one way or the other – best just to do your best and move on to the next thing with more experience and information under your belt.
AAJ: That’s true. Most players have events they can point to that they feel are turning points for them regarding direction, values etc. What do you think have been yours?
PM: The big turning point for me happened when I was 14 or 15 years old and great older musicians around Kansas City like Gary Sivils and Paul Smith started calling me for gigs. everything that has ever happened to me since then grew from those experiences. I was extremely lucky to have had those early chances to learn with players at that level.
AAJ: What’s coming up for you after this tour?
PM: I really hope to be able to spend more time working on the guitar itself – something it seems like have really never had the chance to do – and trying to play better in general and to refine many of the ideas that I have about improvisation. I am also so excited about the group now with Antonio – I would love to do a quartet record again with just Lyle, Steve and Antonio and play some smaller places. I also want to do a bunch of duet records with musicians that I feel especially close to – maybe like a series or something like that.
AAJ: That’d be great. Looking forward to that. The duets with Charlie Haden and Jim Hall were spectacular. Thanks for your time and all the best, Pat.