When I was younger say 19 years old Pat Metheny would come by East Lansing one or two times a year. When he first was passing through he would he would play at the kivas in various dorms. As I understand kiva means meeting place. The rooms were open, circular and small. For the next couple of years I would go early and would literally sit at his feet because there was no stage. There were just some pieces of plywood laid out that comprised the stage area of the room. At most the room held 200-225 people.
Sitting there, I heard what was probably some of the best live jazz playing I will ever hear. These were the years Metheny was on ECM and the album he was supporting for the first couple of tours was called Watercolors. If you haven’t heard it, find it on line and give it a listen. He was barely older than I was then and it was just amazing to see what he could do with the guitar and his band was none too shabby either.
After the concerts we would walk across the frozen tundra that was the campus of MSU here in Michigan (read 2 degrees F and wind blowing icy snow at your face wrapped in a scarf inside a parka) to the Olde World Café. A couple of bucks would buy a big fresh baked pretzel and a mug of hot mulled wine. Filled with ethereal music and hot mulled wine the nights did not seem so cold. (Well that and the fact that if you had taken a date to this fest of ethereal melody- I mean it was the 70s - you probably were going to get laid, ergo it wouldn’t be all that cold at all now would it)
Excuse my digression and just enjoy the music.
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