JAZZ REVIEW : Metheny, Pals Fly First Class at Coach House

If the air around San Juan Capistrano seemed to be smoking Monday night, don’t blame it on the dry weather, blame it on Pat Metheny.

Appearing at the Coach House for a tuneup before heading off on a Japanese tour, the guitarist turned up the burners with a fiery all-star quartet that included Ernie Watts on tenor saxophone, Charlie Haden on bass and Paul Wertico on drums.

Metheny’s popularity with the fusion audience has sometimes diminished his credibility with mainstream jazz aficionados. And that’s unfortunate, because on this performance, at least, he soloed with a passion and flair unrestricted by stylistic boundaries.

Two gutsy blues pieces--including Ornette Coleman’s boppish “Turnaround”--offered ample certification of Metheny’s straight-ahead improvisational skills. On the Coleman piece, Metheny’s solo was strikingly well constructed, moving from full chording to a grooving eighth-note line into an orgy of wild sixteenth-note runs. The result was as dramatically effective as it was musically adroit.

The highlight of the evening, however, was Metheny’s own “Off Ramp,” in which all four members of the group had extended opportunities to present their musical best. Metheny, working with a guitar synthesizer controller, used this versatile new instrument to access a virtual orchestra of sounds, from a raucous trumpet to a lush string section and a quirky collection of percussion accents.

Watts was not at all intimidated by the lack of electronic supplements for his saxophone. Whipping around the horn, honking out multiple harmonics, squealing and squawking, he stretched the instrument to its limits in a grab-bag improvisation which--despite the noise elements--never lost track of its musical roots.

The rhythm team of Haden and Wertico devoted most of its attention to building a solid foundation for Metheny and Watts. But when they moved to the front of the music, they made the most of it.

Haden’s moments were dominated by the rich, almost country-like low-note licks that have become his stock in trade. Wertico, a drummer who thinks in patterns and structures rather than slams and smashes, used his solos--especially on “Off Ramp”--to show that good percussion has as much to do with silences as it does with sounds.

By the time the set blazed to its conclusion, the Metheny group--assembled solely for the current tour--was striking sparks in all directions. Metheny’s brief acoustic guitar encore, a cool breeze at the end of a firestorm, provided the perfect ending.