STILL LIFE (TALKING)

Minuano (Six Eight)
So May It Secretly begin
Last Train Home
(It’s Just) Talk
Third Wind
Distance
In Her Family

PLAYERS: Pat Metheny (g), Lyle Mays (p, k), Steve Rodby (b), Paul Wertico (d), David Blamires (v), Mark Ledford (v)

REFLECTIONS

LYLE: Pat had already written the whistled tune part of “Minuano,” but that was it - 16 bars of 6/8 which we were going to turn into an album. I loved it, but it wasn't enough, so I retreated to my own room and wrote the sultry intro, imagining it as a feature for the two new vocalists we had hired to replace Pedro. Pat loved it so I continued and wrote something for the marimba Pat had just bought. I wrote that passage to feature a new instrument we had to play with. Pat had no clear idea of what he wanted to do with those instruments. I simply started composing for them. Pat loved that too and suggested that I follow that up with an energetic interlude. So I composed the brass section counterpoint to get us back to the recap, and then wrote an ending. So that's how that particular 16 bars of Metheny turned into 9 minutes of PMG. 

DAVID BLAMIRES: I recall the first time Lyle played us the opening to “Minuano,” that gorgeous 6/8 building section. This was in Waltham, MA at the rehearsal space because we played a lot of the Still Life material during a short east coast tour that preceded the recording sessions for that album. I recall almost feeling an out of body experience, I couldn’t believe that I was destined to be bringing this beautiful music to life.