The idea that one album can capture the “best” of an artist such as guitarist Pat Metheny [b. 1954-], may strike some fans as a ridiculous suggestion in light of his 30+ years of recording. However, Rarum IX: Selected Recordings [2004, ECM Records] is not so much a record company's greatest hits package as it is “selected best of.” The tunes found here, picked by Metheny himself, are ones that he considers the best tracks or the most representative tracks (compositionally speaking) of his time spent on Manfred Eicher’s label (circa 1978 through 1985).

Rarum IX settles in on Metheny’s career with ECM from his first album, Bright Size Life recorded when he was 21, and continues through his last offering First Circle from 1984. In between, the collection documents his earliest solo works, his first forays in the trio setting, the foundation of his Pat Metheny Group, and his ever evolving compositions and combinations of players as he solidifies his reputation as one of the more interesting musicians and jazz figures of the last 20 odd years or more.

With his mop of mad scientist hair, his laid back persona, and the ubiquitous striped tee and jeans ensemble, Metheny does not look like a jazz provocateur. But his opinions are held strong and deep and his distaste for those who seek to treat jazz a museum curiosity is well documented. He views jazz as an all encompassing creative vehicle with a heavy emphasis on improvisation, melody, swing, and big ideas placed on the musical canvas before an audience as part of his mission.

Granted, with his sweet melodic tones and his taste for Brazilian colors, his own records have, at times, ventured into the saccharine territory he so despises. Metheny acknowledges his “sweetness” but seemingly combats it with an ever evolving and challenging taste for the dissonant “sour” of jazz as well. So for those who consider “smooth jazz” to be the death knell of contemporary jazz, Metheny’s own output can show a way out of the listener’s morass.

Basing his music on jazz traditional structures, but also filtering it through his own background (Kansas City Jazz scene) and influences, Metheny’s music is thought by some to be a kind of “folk jazz” if you think of the term along the lines of folk music being a kind of continuing commentary on America and our culture. In that vein, then, Metheny’s career and music can be seen as a continuing exploration of what it is to be an American on the one level, and a World citizen on the other. The two halves meet in the middle, sometimes with dissonance, at other times with sublime interaction and music of uncommon beauty and depth.

It’s interesting to note that ECM records is a European jazz label, but one whose catalog of artists and albums is held in high regard by jazz fans. For some ECM is a label of aesthetics—its jazz is decidedly sterile to some, organic and ambient to others, and has been characterized as a kind of “chamber jazz” label.

But Metheny could not record any other way (ECM was teh only label to offer him a contract and the studio freedom to record his compositions). And, though his sound has some ECM aesthetic present in the beginning especially (a kind of meditative feel to it), once his band is formed and Phase Dance kicks in, the label and Metheny’s career is no longer something so atmosphere-centric. His sound begins to burst the seams of any box one would seek to characterize it in.

So the Rarum IX collection is a way to introduce the novice Metheny listener to all that by presenting nine tracks culled from nine divergent albums---an overview of Metheny’s compositional and musical journeys, from 1975 through 1983 (albums released in 1976 through 1984).

Metheny defines his musical terms (and role as a cultural observer) in the liner notes (which he wrote) by stating:

“Our band has always been comfortable addressing a way of playing that goes right at the elements of the parallel popular culture that surrounds us, reinterpreting it through the window of our own interests and perspectives.”

Rarum IX only scratches the surface of Metheny’s abilities and acknowledged genius with the guitar. However, the ECM years are fundamental to his career—illustrating the knowledge, education, and growth that makes each album both something else and something familiar—linear at times, but also out of left field at others. Stasis is not something that Metheny and his musical/writing partner Lyle Mays are fond of—and this album hints at his need to constantly explore, shape, sharpen, and reshuffle his musical deck.

Like a gambler, his highs and lows can be extreme; his best moments to be treasured; his low ones to be discussed and argued with equal intensity by his rabid fan-base.

So, if you want to know what all the fuss is about with Mr. Metheny, this is a suitable introduction to the man from Lees Summit, Missouri and his role as a sometimes weary, if not dedicated jazz citizen (four stars).

Tracks/Album/Recording Date
Bright Size Life (Metheny) 4:48 [Bright Size Life, 1975]
Phase Dance (Metheny/Mays) 8:17 [Pat Metheny Group, 1978]
New Chautauqua (Metheny) 5:15 [New Chautauqua, 1978]
Airstream (Metheny/Mays) 6:17 [American Garage, 1979]
Everyday (I Thank You) (Metheny) 13:14 [80/81, 1980]
It's for You (Metheny/Mays) 8:17 [As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, 1980]
Are You Going With Me? (Metheny/Mays) 9:17 [Travels, 1982 live]
The First Circle (Metheny/Mays) 9:13 [First Circle, 1984]
Lonely Woman (Silver) 6:46 [Rejoicing, 1983]
Total: 71:50

Musicians
Pat Metheny (electric and acoustic guitars, guitar synthesizer, bass), Lyle Mays (piano, synthesizer, autoharp, synclavier), Mark Egan (bass), Dan Gottlieb (drums), Nana Vasconcelos (vocals, percussion), Steve Rodby (bass), Pedro Aznar (acoustic guitar, vocals, bells, percussion), Paul Wertico (drums), with
Jaco Pastorius (bass), Bob Moses (drums), Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone), Charlie Haden (double bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Billy Higgins (drums)

Sources
www.allmusic.com, www.patmethenygroup.com



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