Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye III+ is touring the U.S. and Europe, bringing together some of jazz’s most accomplished musicians. The band features Metheny on guitar, Joe Dyson on drums, and Chris Fishman on keyboards.
The “plus” sums up the handful of amazing musicians who aid in the range of music the group covers, and the bonds made along the way. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation.
Arun Rath: It’s so wonderful to talk with you. But before we talk about the “plus,” tell us a bit more about the core, Side-Eye III+, both the original concept, but how you all came to a place where you started to want to bring in more musicians.
Pat Metheny: Well, it all kind of began for me with realizing what benefits I got personally from being around older musicians, really for most of my life actually, starting in Kansas City. I was like 15 years old, and really the best musicians in Kansas City started hiring me around that time, and, you know, really gave me the chance to be on a bandstand with great players. And I think that’s the key element in this realm of how you kind of get to a place where you’re understanding what’s really happening. And I mentioned Kansas City — I did a lot of organ trio stuff at that time, where the organ player is kind of also the bass player, and I always really liked the idea of one guy being sort of in charge of it all. And at the same time, I thought, well, the tech has changed a lot. What could be — what’s possible now with that? So it could be an organ trio, kind of, of the 21st century, and that was how it all began. And Chris and Joe and I probably did about 300 concerts around the world as a trio, and I loved them.
To me, those two guys, it’s one of the best groups I’ve ever had. The feel that they get together is just unbelievable. So I started writing all this other stuff, and pretty quickly I realized, OK, I’m thinking trio, but what I’m writing here is actually going to take more people than that. And that’s what the “plus” is on the Side-Eye III+.
Rath: Yeah, let’s dive right into that. The track I want to talk about first, “Urban and Western.” I want to talk about it because it gives a sense of the range this group can cover. We get the Western feel right at the top, then all of a sudden, wait, it’s gospel, and then, no, wait, it’s its own thing. Tell us how that came together.
Methney: Yeah, you know, when I’m kind of getting up every morning, you know, I just kind of — that’s a good time for me to just kind of, like, see what’s going on in my interests, you know? And a bunch of things started popping out that I’m like — especially that one, I was like, wow, what, what is this? Because I kept hearing, well, what’s on the record, which is this gospel kind of thing. And I finally got to the point where I had the tune. And also the other thing about that particular tune, it’s one of those deceptive tunes, and it goes through lots of different keys. It doesn’t really sound like that, but anyway, so I had this kind of demo, and I kept hearing this gospel thing. And I’m friends with Mark Kibble, who’s the leader or one of the main people in the group Take 6. And I sent it to Mark and I said, 'Mark, I’m hearing this thing. Am I out of my mind or what?’ And he, he wrote right back. He said, 'Oh no, you’re not out of your mind. Let me help you get to this.’
And so worked on that track and what you hear there is something — man, I wouldn’t even know how to begin to describe it. You did about as good as anybody could, I guess. But it does not fit into any one particular known category, I think. It’s sort of its own thing, which is, you know, that’s always — that’s kind of a goal for me anyway. So if it gets to that, that’s great.
Rath: So now touring with Side-Eye III+, tell us about that. You got a bunch of shows now that you’ve already got done with this group. How is it adapted for the tour? It must be a different lineup, right?
Metheny: Yeah. So, you know, with the record done, it was sort of like, “OK, now how am I gonna come up with some way of presenting some of this stuff?” And I finally, you know, with Chris Fishman, who had been playing, as I mentioned, this sort of like organ role, you know, left-hand bass type stuff, kind of early on in the process of making the record, I was like, OK, I’m gonna have to get a bass player for this. So I was really happy to get a guy named Daryl Johns, who’s somebody I’ve known since he was about 14 or 15. He’s like an incredible, unique talent in the bass world. He was the perfect guy for me to use on the recording, so then I started looking for somebody who could do the touring. And, you know, I’ve always got my ear to the ground anyway because I’m really a fan of the music. I follow the scene very closely and pretty aware of the new people that come along, and I wasn’t really finding the right guy. And then Chris mentioned a friend of his in L.A, Jermaine Paul, and I did a little research on Jermaine.
Jermaine came right out, and we played for a little while, and actually it took about four bars for me to go, well, if he’ll do it, this is the guy. I mean, I went ahead and, you know, followed through with the audition charade, but he had the gig right away. And he’s just unbelievable. I mean, he’s — I’m not even sure how old he is now, maybe 24, something like that. But he’s kind of like the future of the instrument for me. He’s really — he’s everything, you know. He reminds me a little bit of what Christian McBride was like when Christian first kind of appeared on the scene. And then there are elements in the new records, like, there’s no way I could really kind of replicate that. But the thing of singing has always been a thing for me, you know, at different points with different bands that I’ve had. And there’s a musician that I’ve known for a while in San Diego. His name is Leonard Patton and I thought, well, Leonard would be great for this. He’s a great percussionist and an amazing singer, so I thought, well, that could be an interesting lineup.
And actually, with that band, we could do anything because— I mean, it kind of opens up the possibilities of almost every step along the way for me. And that’s kind of what the presentation is. Yes, it is focused a lot on the new record, but, you know, that lineup really fits with kind of like a review of a whole bunch of other things too. And we’re getting to all of them. So it’s really been quite a thing and in fact, that lineup has become so special for me that along the way, I’ve been writing music just for those guys. And as soon as the tour is over, we’re going to go into the studio and do a record, the five of us. So I’m really looking forward to that.
