Question and Answer

Dear Pat- I believe you have one of the most distinctive voices on guitar since Wes Montgomery. You have taken your "central" voice and have been innovative in extending it to unusual twelve string tunings, guitar synth, and several different types of guitars. Although you don't use the chorus sound any more, I wonder what brought you to that sound. I can hear the evolution of it from albums like "Dreams So Real" through concerts I went to in the early/mid eighties. The chorus sounded similar to the vibes and to the piano somehow and really made a nice blend. How did you arrive at chorus, and what did you think about as you tried to improve your sound, (as opposed to voice)? Thanks- Scott P.S Thanks so much for the Trio concert here in San Diego. I've waited YEARS for that concert.

hi scott,

it's funny how the term "chorus" has come to be.

for me, i first experimented with digital delays in around 1976, and stumbled across a way of using several amps onstage with different delay times and a very slight amount of modulation between them. i guess it would be accurate to say that this had not been done in jazz before - it was a pretty fresh sound at the time. then for about six years or so, that was "my" sound - i know that a lot of guys liked it and thought about using it, but didn't, either out of respect or because they just didn't want to sound like me. then, almost overnight, it seemed like everyone started to use it - including a few guys who had told me that they wouldn't, even thought they wanted to, because they thought it was something too associated with me.

my reaction since then, or at least for a while now, has been to pretty much cool it - especially on records - although i still use that same set up live. what is a little weird is that now it just a kind of generic "jazz" sound, kind of like the way jaco's bass sound is almost generic now. i guess that is just way the world goes - but i remember when that sound didn't exist or have a meaning or a context one day, and then it did the next day, and we were both guys (jaco and i) who felt it was important to come up with our own sounds....... . (warning! these are the first signs that i have the potential to sometday start sounding like a bitter old fart!! shit!!!!!)