Pat Metheny on the best guitar player he has ever heard: Pasquale Grasso

[christianm77]

Bruce Foreman has great bop phrasing too

[Greentone]

Agreed. Bruce Foreman has long been a superb bop player. When I listen to him, he seems rooted in the Jimmy Raney school, whereas Grasso seems to come from the same branch of the tree that Pass comes from.

This could be purely coincidental, but Foreman's lines remind me of Raney and Grasso's lines remind me of Pass--especially when each guy is taking choruses of the blues.

[West LA Jazz]

I think PM's main point is that everyone thinks his distinctive sound relies on chorus effects but that he hates chorus and rather a large part of his sound is using delays (lexicon originally) with multiple amps. See also here: Pat Metheny : Question & Answer

Funny you mention this. For lack of a better fans and his audience describe his sound as chorusing but interestingly enough, he always seems to point out that it isn't exactly chorusing. I forget how he describes it but technically it's some other kind of generation that I guess simulates chorusing.

[West LA Jazz]

Bruce Foreman has great bop phrasing too

I took one class from him. He offered to give me lessons but I decided I needed to go to the woodshed for a while in order to come back and make the lessons worth what they are going to be.

[JakeAcci]

"The best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my entire life is floating around now, Pasquale Grasso. This guy is doing something so amazingly musical and so difficult.Mostly what I hear now are guitar players who sound a little bit like me mixed with a little bit of Sco and a little bit of Frisell, using a couple of amps onstage with a little bit of delay. Then they say they don’t listen to me or Sco or Frisell; all they listen to is Grant Green. I kind of go, “Really?” (laughs) What’s interesting about Pasquale is that he doesn’t sound anything like that at all. In a way, it is a little bit of a throwback, because his model – which is an incredible model to have – is Bud Powell. He has somehow captured the essence of that language from piano onto guitar in a way that almost nobody has ever addressed. He’s the most significant new guy I’ve heard in many, many years. That’s exciting for me."


-Pat Metheny

You know, I took this at face value at first, but after a day or two it echoes in my head like this:


“Most new guitarists I hear sound like Sco and Frisell. Pasquale Grasso sounds like Bud Powell. That is better because it’s different!” And it seems a bit deflated.


In other words “everybody is copying X, but this guy is better because he is copying Y!”


I get that it’s refreshing to hear somebody at least copying something that’s copied less frequently, but I’m not the only one spotting the irony here, right?

That's not a judgement on any of these players nor their artistic merit, but more a comment on how placing value judgements on different approaches is sometimes a little silly...

[MarkRhodes]

In other words “everybody is copying X, but this guy is better because he is copying Y!”


I get that it’s refreshing to hear somebody at least copying something that’s copied less frequently, but I’m not the only one spotting the irony here, right?

I didn't read Pat to be saying he thought Grasso was the best guitarist he had ever heard because he (Grasso) was copying someone infrequently copied now (-Bud Powell) but rather, Pat thinks Grasso can improvise jazz on a guitar better than anyone else, period. It is the latter assessment with which I agree.

There are days I would rather hear Scofield play but I've never thought of Scofield as a great guitarist. He is more (-to me) like a singer with an imperfect voice (Leon Russell, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan) who turns out some great songs. Or a beloved character actor in films--he's got that thing he does and that's what you like him for, but you don't think he's the next Laurence Olivier. I think Grasso is a singularly great jazz guitarist. I think if Wes or Charlie or Django or Grant or Kenny or Herb or Barney heard him, they would flip. (Hmm, Kenny Burrell is still alive: wonder what he thinks of Grasso.)

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

With PG it's like the old is new again and I dig that.

[JakeAcci]

I didn't read Pat to be saying he thought Grasso was the best guitarist he had ever heard because he (Grasso) was copying someone infrequently copied now (-Bud Powell) but rather, Pat thinks Grasso can improvise jazz on a guitar better than anyone else, period. It is the latter assessment with which I agree.


There are days I would rather hear Scofield play but I've never thought of Scofield as a great guitarist. He is more (-to me) like a singer with an imperfect voice (Leon Russell, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan) who turns out some great songs. Or a beloved character actor in films--he's got that thing he does and that's what you like him for, but you don't think he's the next Laurence Olivier. I think Grasso is a singularly great jazz guitarist. I think if Wes or Charlie or Django or Grant or Kenny or Herb or Barney heard him, they would flip. (Hmm, Kenny Burrell is still alive: wonder what he thinks of Grasso.)

No argument that the dude is a monster player. i was commenting on the value judgement of copying Bud Powell being better than copying Sco/Metheny/Frisell. Just seems a little simplistic.

[Groyniad]

It's unfair of me to characterise PG's playing as purely a guitar playing thing. He has an amazing command of bop language, and can improvise freely in the idiom without ever playing licks. That's pretty unusual too.

well said - because you were getting close to saying that your original point was just that FROM A TECHNICAL point of view he was the greatest guitarist - and i think that is damning with faint praise.

he improvises freely and with real fire and intelligence (to try to sum it up) in arguably the most developed and demanding form that improvising has ever taken. he plays like bird and powell played - with their spirit and their musical intelligence.

the sex pistols were arguably more original than pg is - but they are, surely, a lot less musical.

it seems to me that bird's playing represents the high point of the music - this seems obvious to me i must say, it always has. so its very hard for me to say whether its more impressive to play so much like bird on the guitar as pg does (with bird's facility as well as his fire and focus) - or to play like say julian lage in a style that is fresh (has some originality) but it musically much less interesting than bird and powell etc.

originality is important - but you don't want to sacrifice musicality for it do you?

(but this is not an easy question - i don't want to sound like the answer is obvious.)

[Lobomov]

Speaking of GFs .. While I was checking out a PRS with a nice 10 top mine remarked:

Why are you looking at a guitar with stretch marks?

[Vladan]

Funny. i mean above post by Groyniad.


Sent from VladanMovies @ YouTube

[MarkRhodes]

No argument that the dude is a monster player. i was commenting on the value judgement of copying Bud Powell being better than copying Sco/Metheny/Frisell. Just seems a little simplistic.

Perhaps if you re-read what Pat said you would realize that the point he was making is not the one you are here calling simplistic.

[JakeAcci]

Perhaps if you re-read what Pat said you would realize that the point he was making is not the one you are here calling simplistic.

I recognize that he is addressing issues beyond just the comparison to Powell/Sco, etc, I was just commenting on that element of it.

[Lobomov]

- or to play like say julian lage in a style that is fresh (has some originality) but it musically much less interesting than bird and powell etc.

originality is important - but you don't want to sacrifice musicality for it do you?

I dunno. Checking PGs youtube channel it seems all his vids consist of sitting alone in a dark room playing advanced solo guitar, while JL seems to have an audience.

You like sitting alone in a dark room?

[Groyniad]

ain't no room dark or empty enough you're gonna find bird and bud playing in it nowadays

that doesn't bear on the issue of how musical they were

or who you'd do better to copy

[JakeAcci]

I dunno. Checking PGs youtube channel it seems all his vids consist of sitting alone in a dark room playing advanced solo guitar, while JL seems to have an audience.

Multiple factors at play in that issue - one of which being that JL has been a professional performer for about twenty years now, with extra attention from being a 'child prodigy.' I think Pasqualle hasn't been on the scene nearly as long.

[destinytot]

I find PG's procedural knowledge astonishing. Its (i.e. his own) application seems rare in the extreme, if not unique (which it may well be). The only guitarist I find for comparison is the late (great) Roland Dyens - but such comparison cuts no ice in terms of musical style.

Pasquale is The Daddy so suck it up, buttercup.

[Lobomov]

Multiple factors at play in that issue - one of which being that JL has been a professional performer for about twenty years now, with extra attention from being a 'child prodigy.' I think Pasqualle hasn't been on the scene nearly as long.

Sure .. also I don't know if PG is earning a nice living teaching in academia and maybe doing session work.

But the thing is that I really really like JL and actually value his originality. Being Gary Burtons pick for a long time doesn't subtract from that. I don't really see, why PG should be put ahead of him

[destinytot]

I dunno. Checking PGs youtube channel it seems all his vids consist of sitting alone in a dark room playing advanced solo guitar, while JL seems to have an audience.

You like sitting alone in a dark room?

I think he elevates and ennobles that dark room. Shine on, baby.

[Lobomov]

ain't no room dark or empty enough you're gonna find bird and bud playing in it nowadays

that doesn't bear on the issue of how musical they were

or who you'd do better to copy

OK, PG is copying Bird and Bud.

But tell me, who is JL copying?

[destinytot]

OK, PG is copying Bird and Bud.

But tell me, who is JL copying?

Sorry, I don't genuinely don't recognise/remember whose initials they are. Who's JL, please?

To self:

[destinytot]

Sorry, I don't genuinely don't recognise/remember whose initials they are. Who's JL, please?

Joe Lovano?

[destinytot]

Joe Lovano?

Julie London?




(I'll get my coat.)

[Lobomov]

Joe Lovano?

John Lennon!

[destinytot]

John Lennon!

Kidding, right? You guys...