Pat Metheny Group - Still Life (1987) LP

"Still Life (Talking)" was the first Pat Metheny Group album for Geffen, following its 1984 swan song for ECM, First Circle, and it remains one of the group's finest efforts nearly twenty years down the road. The fact that five of the seven tracks have shown up regularly in Metheny Group live shows since that time—more than any other single Metheny Group album—suggests that the group also feels that way about the record, with the overt Brazilian overtones of "Minuano (six eight) and "Third Wind," as well as the anthemic "Last Train Home" being particularly popular choices and fan favourites. By this point the core group had settled to include keyboardist Lyle Mays—who'd been with Metheny since the earliest days of the group—bassist Steve Rodby and drummer Paul Wertico—both recruits from the early 1980s. Still Life (Talking) saw the departure of singer/multi-instrumentalist Pedro Aznar from First Circle and the expansion of the group to a septet with the addition of singer/percussionist Armando Marçal and singers David Blamires and the recently-deceased Mark Ledford. Freed from the somewhat confining restrictions of ECM label owner Manfred Eicher's approach to recording, Metheny was not only able to take more time with the recording, but create a multi-layered approach to production that had more precedents in pop music than jazz. Which isn't to imply that Metheny Group records don't fit within the jazz arena. But more than his side projects, Metheny Group records are always as much about composition as they are solo prowess, and in that regard Still Life (Talking) is a significant advancement over First Circle. Fans consider it to be the second part of the group's "Brazilian Trilogy" which began with First Circle and concluded with the follow-up Letter From Home. And in many ways it's the most successful of the three in terms of its overall strength of writing and playing. With Metheny and Mays the primary soloists, there are some seminal moments on Still Life (Talking) —notably Metheny's staggering solo on the burning "Third Wind" and Mays' ever-lyrical, ever-harmonically distinctive solo on the funkier Brazilian inflection of "(It's Just) Talk." The group also had the ability to weave contrapuntal wordless vocals with three singers in the band, creating a potential for greater orchestration both on record and, ultimately, in performance. One of the overlooked aspects to Metheny's writing, as well as his longstanding collaborative work with Mays, is just how successful he's always been at creating music that sounds completely effortless, despite being considerably more detailed under the sheets. Sure, the bridge section that leads into the final restatement of the theme to "Minuano" is undeniably challenging; but more often than not the complexities are only there if you're paying attention. A double-edged sword that has sometimes rendered the jazz intelligentsia to accuse Metheny Group albums of being "jazz lite," these critics might be more respectful if they'd take the time to examine what actually goes on in these tunes.