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MarcNebo Nov 13 2020 at 11:04 AM	One thing we can all agree on is this has been a terrible year. Trying to stay positive has been challenging for me, so I am trying to find some highlights to post. At the top of my list would be the release of Pat’s latest recording From This Place. Many of his fans were anxiously waiting for his next record and for me it was worth the wait. Pat delivered a masterpiece that lifted my spirits with every listening. Excellent compositions performed by excellent musicians. It has become one of my favorite Pat recordings. So far it has helped me get through the most challenging year of my 66 years on this planet. I have had health issues this year (non Covid-19) and have a job, so things could have been a lot worse. My life without live Jazz this year really affected me and Pat’s record and other great Jazz records released this year keep my spirits positive.
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MarcNebo Mar 12 2021 at 9:30 PM	aloc : Thank you, it was a lot of work getting all the signatures on the drumheads and the pickguards but I really enjoyed doing it. Only one drummer out of 41 does not appear on the Downbeat Critics Poll lists for those five years. I have a lot of cool stories regarding getting the signatures. I’ll find a way to get Pat to sign a pickguard and won’t need to get anyone else. My condominium is starting to look like a Pat Metheny shrine or Jazz museum. I was amazed at some of the photos I took years ago. My favorites are several great photos of Jaco Pastorius that I had 8 x 10 prints made.
aloc Mar 12 2021 at 2:44 AM	Wow, you’ve got quite a collection going on there, Marc! I hope you’ll be able to get Pat’s signature on a pickguard eventually!
MarcNebo Mar 11 2021 at 5:52 PM	I have one other Jazz project that I would like to complete in 2021, but it might have to wait. I have four Guitar Pickguards that have been signed by fourteen Jazz guitarists. I will consider it complete when I get Pat to sign one of them. As of today, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Larry Coryell, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Peter Bernstein, Lionel Loueke ,Julian Lage, Mike Stern, Russell Malone, Mary Halvorson, Jakob Bro, Adam Rogers and Gilad Hekselman have signed the pickguards. The coolest signature was Pat Martino’s, it looks like a guitar. When I am done I will have them put in one frame and hung in a spot near the Drumheads. My next long-term project will be to put some of my best Jazz photographs in one large frame. I have about eight great black and white photographs of Pat and Mark Egan back in 1977. I took the photos at a coffehouse that Pat used to play at about ten days per year in the early years. Pat told me that was one of his favorite spots to play.
MarcNebo Mar 10 2021 at 11:17 PM	Thanks to aloc I confirmed Brian Blade was on Kenny Garrett’s CD with Pat. Before that I discovered Billy Hart was on the record Pat did with Dave Liebman and Nasheet Waits was on the Logan Richardson with Pat. That means ten drummers that have played with Pat have signed one of my drumheads. When I have shown my list of the drummers that have signed the drumheads all the drummers have been impressed. Antonio Sanchez was a the top of my list of who I wanted to sign a drumhead. After several attempts I finally got him when I got backstage after his band Migration played at the Chicago Symphony Center. Very nice guy and great readable signature. I kept very good records of who signed, which band they were with and where they signed. That helped a lot as some are really hard to identify.
MarcNebo Mar 10 2021 at 10:31 PM	aloc : Thank you for confirming that Brian Blade has played with Pat. I have that Kenny Garrett CD, but don’t remember seeing Pat play with him live. I need to check my files. I have seen Pat so many times and with so many different bands that I frequently forget a show.
aloc Mar 10 2021 at 8:14 AM	Marc - Blade and Pat played together on Kenny Garrett’s Coltrane-record "Pursuance". Additionally, Brian played on some trio dates with Pat at the end of the 90’s, with Larry Grenadier on bass!
MarcNebo Mar 04 2021 at 9:26 PM	Another 2020 highlight was hanging three Remo Drumheads signed by forty-one Jazz Drummers over a period from 2015 to 2019. I donated the first drumhead to the 2015 silent auction and was the only bidder. I found a company that made Drumhead frames and I ordered three of them. Most of them were on the Downbeat Critics Poll list for those five years. Many of Pat’s drummers signed the drumheads, Jack DeJohnette, Antonio Sanchez, Roy Haynes, Jeff Ballard, Bill Stewart, Marcus Gilmore and Joey Baron. I also have Brian Blade, but I can’t remember if he has played with Pat. One year at the Detroit Jazz Festival I could have gotten Danny Gottlieb to sign a drumhead. Maybe one day I will have an opportunity to get him to sign it. They really look cool lined up on a wall in my living room/dining room.
MarcNebo Mar 04 2021 at 9:09 PM	Several days ago I remembered another highlight from 2020. In 2014 I co-sponsored the Pat Metheny Unity Group concert at the Chicago Symphony Center. I got to go backstage after the show to meet Pat and the band. That year I had the show poster, signed by the band framed and hung. It’s the first thing you see when you walk into my condominium. I had a lot of memorabilia from the show in a folder since then. In 2020 I laid everything out the way I wanted it framed and got it done. I had two photos of Pat and me, pages from the program with a note from Pat (signed), a photo of the band, my ticket, the signed poster from Kin (pre-order) and photos of the CSC Donor board. It looks fantastic hanging on a wall in my living room. I also finally hung the sheet music to Last Train Home, hand- written by Pat and signed. Pat’s agent donated it for an silent auction I helped with in 2015. I also was the high bidder. I hung that next to the concert stuff.
BobSmith1 Jan 22 2021 at 11:30 AM	MarcNebo--A few of the recordings from 2020 that I have been listening to quite a bit: Melody Gardot "Sunset In The Blue"; Till Brönner/Bob James "Vacation"; Elina Duni "Lost Ships"; Michael Manring "Small Moments" (Zon Hyperbass extravaganza).
MarcNebo Jan 21 2021 at 11:30 PM	I forgot the new CD, Data Lords from the Maria Schneider Orchestra. Double CD with The Digital World and Our Natural World, the former very intense and dramatic, the later beautiful. One of her best records and excellent packaging. Very worth checking out. Anybody else have any music highlights from 2020? I survived 2020 with some great Jazz CDs and Live Streams online. They helped, but I need live Jazz to survive. Happy New Year to all.
MarcNebo Jan 12 2021 at 10:22 PM	franksexton : If the stars align this year and the Detroit Jazz Festival happens and the Lineup looks good I will probably attend. If I do I would stay at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel and would try to connect with you. It’s a long way off, but one has to set their sights on something positive to look forward to. Also I have seen Pat from California to Washington DC, so travelling to see him may bring me your way.
MarcNebo Jan 12 2021 at 7:56 PM	franksexton : I live in Chicago, but three years in a row I went to the Detroit Jazz Festival instead of staying home for the Chicago Jazz Festival. Both are Labor Day weekend but I think the DJF is better in many ways. Foremost the lineup of musicians is much better. Three out of four stages are very good to excellent and Chicago’s main stage is excellent. The other stages are in tents and are frequently hot with no ventilation. If I stay there long enough maybe I will sweat of some weight. Let’s hope it returns this year better than ever.
franksexton Jan 11 2021 at 10:49 AM	I don’t get to see many concerts but do try to get to the Dtroit Jazz Fest every year. Hopefully it can come back this year. I saw Joey Baron play with Dave Douglas,Joe Lovono and Linda Oh there (right after the Unity Band played on the same stage). Talk about back to back great performances!
MarcNebo Jan 04 2021 at 11:26 PM	patsfan : First. thank you for the kind words. I have been a fan of Jazz since college in 1973 and then along came Pat. First live show was in 1977 (?) and since that year he has been my favorite musician. My passion for Jazz grew when I moved back to Chicago in 2006 after 20 years in San Diego ( a Jazz Desert). I have a long list of favorite Jazz musicians Second : Looking at your Posts history it looks like you are a big Jazz fan and have big ears. Third, a Happy New Year to you and let’s hope for a year where we return to live music (especially a tour from Pat). Nothing but the best for you in 2021.
patsfan Jan 03 2021 at 8:23 PM	Marc, you are the ultimate in jazz fans, and 235 concerts in 2018, and the top Pat affionado on this site !! I really enjoy your posts And the info you present for all of us ..... Happy New Year !
MarcNebo Jan 02 2021 at 10:02 PM	Sorry, I forgot John Scofield’s trio CD Swallow Tales (with Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart).
MarcNebo Jan 02 2021 at 11:41 AM	In 2019 I saw 235 Jazz bands and this year (2020) only 17 bands. At the end of 2019 it was hard to make a Top Twenty List, but #1 was Pat Metheny Side-Eye. 2020 Top Ten List will have to do and #1 was Kenny Barron with Russell Malone (great guitarist) and David Wong (bass). Thankfully there were some great CDs released this year. My #1 pick was From This Place. Pat’s masterpiece. Also on my list were Bill Frisell Trio Valentine, Jimmy Heath Love Letter, Joshua Redman Round Again (with Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Brian Blade), Artemis (all female All-Star band) Bill Frisell Harmony (with Petra Haden, vocals) and Matt Wilson Quartet Hug! All of them helped me get through the year. I am optimistic that 2021 will be a much better year and that live music will return sometime this year.
Oystein Nov 22 2020 at 5:09 PM	Yellowjackets - Jackets XL Ulf Wakenius - Taste of Honey Ibrahim Maalouf - 40 Melodies ...and Pat Metheny, of course :)
Gyuri Nov 20 2020 at 1:04 AM	I would certainly mention Yellowjackets’ "XL". Very rich, cool, spirit-lifting stuff.
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