Music Industry Bright Lights Visit Berklee

 

During the spring semester, three giants of the music industry with ties to Berklee - Quincy Jones '51, Arif Mardin '61, and Pat Metheny H'96 came to the college to share their experiences, and, in the case of Metheny, to work with the students. 

The first visitor was Quincy Jones, superstar composer/arranger, record producer, and label executive who came by to visit to his longtime friend Lee Berk as the president's last year at Berklee drew to a close. During the February 18 visit, Jones also took the opportunity to address a capacity crowd in the David Friend Recital Hall and shared some of his observations about the music industry over the past six decades. 

 

Record producer and Manhattan Records Co-Vice President Arif Mardin accepted the invitation to come to Berklee on February 20 as the speaker for this year's James G. Zafris Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series for Music Business/Management. Mardin opened his remarks by reminiscing about his arrival at Berklee in January 1958 from his native Istanbul, Turkey, and shared humorous anecdotes about his Berklee experiences. He described the hospitality of Lawrence and Alma Berk and how he felt like a family member living and working among the students, faculty members, and administrators of the Berklee community. Fielding questions from Don Gorder, chair of the Music Business/Management Department, as well as the audience, Mardin spoke about the current climate of the music industry. "Although the nature of the music has changed, it is still the image of the artist and the power of the song that connects with the audience," Mardin said. 

 

Pat Metheny spent the week of April 26-30 at Berklee as a Herb Alpert Visiting Professor. During his visit, Metheny's main focus was producing a recording of a student jazz quintet that included trumpeter Christian Scott, saxophonist Michael Tucker, pianist Vadim Neselovskyi, bassist Esperanza Spalding, and drummer James Williams. Most of the group members contributed original pieces for the project and had rehearsed for several weeks with Gary Burton prior to Metheny's arrival. The ensemble recorded with Metheny and Burton behind the console at Soundtrack Studios in Boston. Burton will mix the album later this summer and the hope is that a CD will be ready for release in the fall.

During his stay, Metheny gave two concerts: one in a duo setting with fellow guitarist Mick Goodrick and the second on April 30 as the closing concert of Song's Nothing Conservatory about It Concert series in the Berklee Performance Center. For the latter, Metheny teamed up with Burton and a student rhythm section featuring Evan Gregor (bass) and Jordan Perlson (drums) for a set that included old and recent Pat Metheny originals as well as standards and other material from the repertoire Metheny played as a member of Burton's group in the 1970s. The enthusiastic crowd at the Berklee Performance Center reluctantly let Burton and Metheny leave after an unusual encore rendering of "'Round Midnight" played with just acoustic guitar and vibes.