Mojo Grill

Went up to Dutchess County tonight - near Wappinger's Falls, about 50 miles north of NYC - to play a gig with Tony DePaolo at the Mojo Grill. It's his regular Wed. hit. I played 6 string electric bass. Tony played guitar and there was a drummer named Mike. We played standards. Pretty low key gig, but a good vibe and the scattered people that were there seemed to enjoy it. Nice to play the 6 again. It sounded good thru the Hartke amp that was at the club (I'm needing to update my bass amp rig).

It's amazing how far removed from the city it feels up there. Culturally as well as geographically. It's got a small-town feel that exists because there are farms just outside of town and not because trendy commuters want to make it FEEL that way. The sky was an inky black. The stars shone brighter than they do when competing with the light pollution of the City. I like it upstate.

Metheny

Finally went to iTunes store today and bought/downloaded the new Pat Metheny record "The Way Up". Listened to the "first part" (this record has no "songs" but rather 3 extended sections of contiguous musical ideas) on the ipod on the way up to Mojo tonight - 31 minutes long! Didn't feel ungainly. The sections flow into each other naturally enough. I do have to say that Metheny writes great road trip cruising music. Preferably countryside.

I wanted to go ahead and hear it/get to know it because I'm going to see the Group live April 2 at the Beacon theater. From what I've heard so far, I like it. Certainly not the departure from Pat's earlier stuff that has been made of it. If you listen to many of his records, you've heard similar stuff (although not all on one record), but there are some interesting ideas and it is all well executed.

Man, think of Jaco dying at 35, and all the potential music he had inside dying with him. And contrast that with Pat who has lived on the road and in the studio his whole adult life! 30 years now! Good for Pat for giving himself another reason to get out on the road and spread the word.