Pat Metheny Group - Phase Dance (1978)

[Multiac]

Look at this incredible slurs



[Blanylower11]

Eran grandes desde chiquitos!!! Geniales Todos!

[Inglejuice]

best phase dance performance video on here. beautiful and flawless. no matter how many times i hear this song whether live or on record i still get that same feeling. if anything it only gets stronger. a real hair raiser.......

[CribNotes]

Was 16 years old when this album came out in 1978. Two blizzards in Massachusetts had us out of school for about a week. I can vividly remember listening to Phase Dance and San Lorenzo over and over while looking out the window watching the unending snowfall.

[couch63]

@CribNotes I love stories like that. What would life be without music as it's theme?

[MrWoodnail]

The way he walks up chromatically into that opening solo kills me. Where does he get that? What's he, 25 in this video? Dude.

[brunoloko21]

esto es una pasades de verga, esto musica mierda¡¡¡¡ que bien suena, lo mejor que escuchado en mucho tiempo

[soup2nuts1]

I was standing 10 feet from them when they performed this at "hunts" in Burlington Vermont around '78 or '79. I had never experienced such awesome talent as this before - or since! Their dynamic range was beautiful and profound. Truth,honesty and the complex beauty of life dripping on the end of every note. The next day I was at Boyd's music where I was the guitar teacher (I was a college student at UVM). Who walks in - but Pat. He told me "don't listen to how people teach guitar, it's all wrong

[couch63]

@soup2nuts1 What do you think he meant by "I'ts all wrong"? Did he elaborate?

[boblpage]

I simply do not a believe a word the woman said in her introduction!! But, seriously, I saw Pat, Lyle, Egan and Gottlieb perform this live in '78 or '79 at the old Punch 'n Judy Theater in my hometown of Grosse Pointe, MI. They came out on stage without saying a word and started the show with this. It was electrifying -- and still is to listen to!

[rg2027x]

Most excellent upload.....Thanks : )

[MrTinoNeto]

another version 1980

watch?v=k_XHpu-UHv0

[rsport180]

This is a grate video! Thank you!

[jonpaulmoen]

0:27 I don't think that magazine cover would be too acceptable today. : )

[JRBain7]

Funny to see relatively-unbeaten-to-hell-ye­t-Gibson. Man could he play though, even at that age...

[jonpaulmoen]

If only Top 40 could sound something like this nowadays. I can dream.

[couch63]

@jonpaulmoen Yes a dream or fantasy we share

[samsamba08]

Only 24 years old...and they were already touring the world.

[chupeaux]

Lyle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pob1989]

how does pat get that incredible tone with every guitar he plays!? incredible!!

[jibsmokestack1]

Lyle Mays blows me away!

[kmbackid]

thank you!

[jonpaulmoen]

Man, why can't Top 40 today be like this? Such great musicianship!

[matjazvertus]

made in heaven

[linus0063]

i will listen to him in march in the bremen glocke (germany)

[discolando]

Back then, Lyle moonlighted as an actor playing Cousin It ... true story.

[axiluss]

Pat MeSSEnys. :)

[fabiousa]

What bass is that!?!?!? Does anybody knows?

[pimplewood]

@fabiousa That bass is a fender precision (Probably a mid 60's) with a Jazz bass pickup added near the bridge. Did the same to mine back then.

[CoverMyMouth]

They make a P-Bass Special now, with the same pickup setup... I think it may even have a jazz neck... Google it.

[gaspo218]

Mark's playing here is simply outstanding.

[funkster007]

PMG = Pure Musical Genius ;)

Damn I love this lineup!

[harveydents]

This must be BEFORE his bridge broke and he stuck a toothbrush in to stabalize it and kept it in there...I NEVER new that beginning part was a guild acoustic!! i always asummed it was his gibson!

[spaisflex]

The toothbrush is there. Look harder.

[crbrSantos]

old times...since a vinil ones.."If I could.." my favorit... I was in love, good times!!

[Hoontasan]

I've grown up on Pat Metheny's music. I was in high school when he started out with Gary Burton. I've been a huge fan ever since. I estimate I've seen him in concert around 40 times and I've never been dissapointed.

[pbanders]

Amazling composer and soloist. What I find cool about this vid is how much his guitar, his playing style, and his appearance at this time remind me of Steve Howe.

[mrselfdestruct009]

@pbanders Couldn't agree with you more about the Howe comment! There's definitely some common elements there. Yes and PMG are by far two of my favorite bands ever.

[gateofdreams]

The sheer power of their performance still gives me goose bumps after 25 years of listening to them. Pat & Lyle are some of humanity's best musicians of all time.

[JRBain7]

Wow... Pat is NOT wearing a stripy sweater. Truly I cannot believe my eyes! :P

Amazing talent. Huge PM fan here.

[celoc62]

got hooked to PMG after hearing this song

[tinypapercube]

What a fantastic performance and composition! I'm glad I've come far enough in my understanding to enjoy this even after having spent the morning rocking out to Miles Davis' "Live - Evil".

[2shacks1house]

MORE BRILLIANCE!!

[squonkdh]

Agreed here with 2shacks1house,this is yet another extraordinary piece by the group, and not much , if anything can beat this beautiful performance.

Grins,

Squonk

[vampiroangelico]

There are many guitarists who are quite good and I love, but Pat Metheny and David Gilmour are by far my favorite guitarists, especially for their phrasing, their choice of notes.

Fantastic! Emotional!

Great music without boundaries and without frontiers!

No labels, just great music!

[mdstress]

I saw Pat Metheny in a small club in DC in the Fall of 1978 - never had heard of him - went with a College Girl I was trying to date. They opened with Phase Dance and I was blown away at his playing along with Lyle Mays. I never succeeded with the Girl, but got to see some amazing talent.

[zenradio]

Wow, I never realized just how far hair care products have come since the 70's

[tinypapercube]

I dunno, maybe they wanted it that way. It does seem to be the band "look". Whatever for, I don't know. I can imagine them all backstage blowdrying and brushing, maybe running the van der Graff generator for good measure.

[rp1guy]

If I hit the lottery these guys are reuniting for my celebration party..I'll make them an offer they can't refuse..

[vampiroangelico]

LMAO

That was a great thought!

Let me know, please, if I can be invied. I will fly wherever your party will be!

I have loved the PMG ever since the late '70s and have all of their records and CDs, and have seen Pat live in Italy twice!

[Eric26406]

Fantastic video. Thanks a lot. Absolute my favorite musician!!!!!

[allegedartistlessons]

Metheny's playing is so much freer here than it was on the original record.

[hbsunsun]

It's great!

[cofunviewer]

To HuLiXD below,

Agreed on the original lineup being the best and purest .....it allows the space for all the infinite range and innovation. The musical otherworld these guys play in when they're together TRANCENDS!

[ThatOneDude88]

Metheny's DNA is sacred.

[mcufre]

Metheny´s DNA is not from this world, Im serious.

[capaden]

great recording, thanks!

[liman42]

If I could pick my next lifetime I'd come back as Lyle Mays. The man's talent is just incredible.

[Ericejazz]

Great clip.  Thanks for sharing this with us.

--Eric E

[Rainbower62]

I have waited for 25 Years to see this clip , and need further 25 or another life to play this tune.

fantastic

[melodistman]

Wow---this is unbelievable!! Where the hell is everybody----only 12 comments?? The word that comes to mind re: Pat(and this band) is 'refined'. And Lyle just knocks me out every time.

[fendweller]

Well good gracious - just wen I thought there was no more really good stuff to come out of the woodwork... Respect to you!

[cb041764]

Still looking for some bit of footage of metheny that isn't amazing. WTF?

[kth42]

By the way, even earlier PMG footage exists from December 1977 when the group performed on the US TV show "Every Tub on its Bottom" for approx. 26 minutes. It was shared some time ago on DimeADozen in MPEG1/VCD format, but I think the accompanying info text is right on calling the video & audio quality "pretty poor but it is worth getting a copy for a look at Pat with quite short hair". ;)

[orangefunk]

Wow... never saw that.. and I'm on dime too...

Any chance of an upload to youtube?

[BioBiro]

I was actually going to request the '77 video show in the comments section for this show on Dime, but it's interesting that it's been brought up by you guys here. If I remember correctly the 1977 show was in Texas, and they were backing 'Freddie Hubbard'(?) - i've seen it on lists as an MPEG/VCD, and also as an NTSC VHS as the original source i'm guessing.

[orangefunk]

Yeah I just read a newspaper article on this from back in the day... if you type the following into google it should be the first hit!

pat metheny every tub on its bottom

[kth42]

To anyone interested: I've uploaded the 4 songs from the aforementioned 1977 PMG performance (on the US television show "Every Tub on its Bottom").

[kth42]

Superb and rare footage! Here's an English translation of the intro read by the German TV announcer:

"In any music shop worth its salt, you can buy some guitar gear that is able to produce Metheny's pleasantly reverberized tone. What you can't buy is his goose-like sure-footedness in terms of melody and rhythm. In 1978, NDR (public TV and radio broadcaster for Northern Germany) recorded the Metheny band at the Berlin Jazz Festival."

[orangefunk]

so could be that it was broadcast much later than 1978 right? Perhaps after Pat was a bit more well known than he was in '78...

[BlauesBandwiederflat]

@orangefunk @kth42 The announcer is Ulla Zitelmann. I'm sure the concert has been broadcasted first in 1978, and this is a repetition from the 1980s on the third program of NDR, as a kind of musical interlude.

The first too sentences of her text are taken from a text by Michael Naura. Both were at the NDR, Naura as head of the Jazz department. I don't know were Naura published this text first, whether it was a announcement on the radio or a written critique.

[BlauesBandwiederflat]

(continued) Later he would use the term "Gemsenhafte Trittsicherheit" again, for example in a critique from 1995, see zeit.de/1995/40/Zeit_zum_Hoere­n. A recording of Phase Dance has been used by the NDR as theme music of the radio jazz program and also of late night rock-pop program "Nachtclub" for many years, and since 2009 it is used again for their radio jazz program. But this version of Phase Dance used on NDR radio (with a cheering audience) must be from the concert 1980 in Hamburg.

[Jazzguitman]

I saw the band for the first time back in this period.Back in those days this was ground beaking material.They were traveling in a van and a truck the first time I saw them.This brings back great memories.Its cool how someones music creates a timeline for your life.Pats music has done that for me.I had a couple of Pats cover tunes on here but Metheny's people had them deleted.I moved one of them to my myspace and lost the other.I have no hard feelings tho.Thanks orangefunk!

Chris

[DHB1959]

Stunning! The best incarnation of the band and from the best album. Thanks for posting.

[dkendzior]

great, the video is 31 years old

[Microsloth]

Thanks orangefunk.... tasty!