A conversation with two strangers who sat next to me at Pat Metheny’s concert at Muriel Kauffman Theatre on Saturday, April 4, quickly turned to prog-rock. (Each of us paid $60.50 for seats in the upper balcony.) Although the men were less than half my age, they expressed a passion for bands rooted in the 1970s including Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Rush.
Partly for that reason, I experienced Metheny’s performance as an extension of the extravagant prog-rock and jazz fusion traditions. The five human musicians- Lee’s Summit native Metheny, keyboardist Chris Fishman, bassist Jermaine Paul, percussionist and vocalist Leonard Patton and drummer Joe Dyson- played with explosive vigor. Automatonic vibraphones might be considered a sixth player.
The set list included readings of much-loved proggish anthems including “The First Circle” “Are You Going With Me?” and “Phase Dance.” Interpretations of material from the new album Side-Eye III+ such as “In On It” and “Make a New World” furthered the concept. Patches of greasy organ jazz, pastoral folk, skronky harmolodics and classical guitar were also heard during the 130-minute concert.
Much of the banter among the departing crowd speculated on precisely how the robotic vibraphones were triggered. Artificial intelligence is a reasonable explanation, but I’m partial to a quality I characterize as “Metheny magic.” On Saturday, the most wondrous aspect of that magic was Metheny’s ability to make prog-rock and jazz fusion more vital than ever.