Pat Metheny, Don Cherry, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette - Irving Plaza, NYC May 12, 1985

A few days ago I uploaded a short set by the Gateway Trio from the Collin Walcott tribute that was held at Irving Plaza in New York City on May 12, 1985. Walcott, a member of the group Oregon, died in a bus accident in the Fall of 1984 (Oregon also performed). Here is another portion of that event. Although Pat Metheny toured with Ornette Coleman in 1987 (the Song X tour) and has played many Ornette tunes along the way with other groups, as far as I know this is the only time Pat Metheny played with Don Cherry, Ornette's right-hand man in his early years. Cherry, of course, recorded three albums and toured with Collin Walcott in the trio Codona, with Nana Vasconcelos, so it was no surprise that he appeared at this tribute. It was great to see Holland and DeJohnette play with John Abercrombie and Pat Metheny in two different bands on the same night.
My first experience with Metheny was in the late 1970s in college seeing the Pat Metheny Group and listening to some of its albums, which were pretty mellow and commercial. It was only a few years later that I got to see and hear how adventurous a guitarist he could be. Perhaps the epitome of Metheny's adventurousness was his 1994 No Tolerance For Silence album, which has been compared to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, both being full-length albums of pure electric noise. As with Lou's record, people speculated that No Tolerance For Silence was Metheny's intentional effort to piss off his record label he was on the outs with.
Although Metheny did not record No Tolerance for Silence until 9 years after this show, you can hear a foreshadowing of it here in 1985. The band played a two-song set of Ornette tunes. In the second, Congeniality, Metheny started off his solo (14:25) with what I think is a very weird tone for him. From there, the solo shifted into squeals from the Synclavier that he was playing with at that time (16:35). Another minute in, at 17:25, the chaos begins. Metheny sounds like he was channeling the NYC Downtown scene, maybe Elliott Sharp or Arto Lindsay, sounding to me like the forerunner to No Tolerance For Silence (he would again be similarly noisy two years later with Ornette on the Song X tour). By 18:06, we are into the pure noise part of the solo . After that he came back down to earth and the band took it home with the theme.
Pat Metheny - guitar/synclavier
Don Cherry - pocket trumpet, melodica
Dave Holland - bass
Jack DeJohnette - drums
00:00 Don Cherry introduction
01:14 Turnaround (O Coleman)
11:27 Congeniality (O Coleman)
Recorded with a Sony Walkman Pro D6C with Sony ECM-102 stereo microphone. Uploaded solely for educational purposes and historical interest. Enjoy.

[@juampsmusic]

I never knew that Pat played with Don Cherry. Very happy to know that now. Thanks for sharing these!

[@hanssvoboda]

I was at this event, and was especially excited to hear Gateway. I wasn't a huge Metheny fan but of course I loved 80/81, and when I saw him in the audience I wondered if he would play. I honestly wasn't prepared for the solo he took on Congeniality, it was incredible in the moment and all these years later this recording confirms it.

[@christopherjones1649]

Damn

[@christopherjones1649]

How lucky you were to have lived in NYC during this time. Thanks for sharing ALL these shows

[@StephenBuckingham]

You're welcome. Glad you're enjoying them. That's why I'm finally digitizing them and uploading for all to hear.

[@steverickenbacher7110]

While I do like the PMG, I have long been of the opinion that Pat's best albums were ones where he played with other "all-stars" of jazz. For instance, the trios with Holland and Haynes, Haden and Higgins, Grenadier and Stewart, McBride and Sanchez, and of course, the phenomenal 80/81 band. Those occasions just hit me as "higher level" music than the music he made in more commercial settings (not to take away from the brilliant Lyle Mays and other great musicians who have filled out various PMG groupings).

[@StephenBuckingham]

Totally agree. I'm sure the money earned from PMG tours and records allowed him the luxury to do his more interesting work. Hey, we all have bills to pay...

[@steverickenbacher7110]

@@StephenBuckingham Well, Pat's such a sincere guy that I can't begrudge him his fame and fortune. He's one of the good guys in music. Have you ever seen the interview he did with Rick Beato 2 years ago on youtube? Interesting stuff. I'd link it, but I'm afraid my post will be auto-deleted. Just search on "Rick Beato The Pat Metheny Interview".

[@jedtulman46]

Yet another gem from.the mini jazz renaissance (1976 to1987).harmolodic blues