Ecm Records
1975
Dreams So Real
About This Album
Performing the intricate music of Carla Bley is no mean feat, but if anyone is up for the challenge, it would be vibraphonist Gary Burton. Signifying a high watermark in his career in the mid-'70s, Dreams So Real teams Burton with his fellow professor at the Berklee College of Music Mick Goodrick, along with recently graduated student Pat Metheny. Add the peerless electric bass guitarist Steve Swallow and always proficient drummer Bob Moses, and you have the makings of a short-lived supergroup capable of playing Bley's memorable, melancholy music. While generally regarded as one of many Burton/Metheny pairings, it is Goodrick's individualism (it was he who primarily tutored Metheny) that needs more recognition. With Goodrick on electric six-string and Metheny on electric 12-string guitar, the sonorities they establish allow Burton to freely discourse on Bley's prickly angular melodies. The brittle and fractured combo track "Ictus/Syndrome" -- closer to a three-piece suite -- goes from a frantic neo-bop meter to straight-ahead swing with a clearly inspired Burton rambling into the bright signature rondo sound that Metheny and Swallow have always owned. "Syndrome" might also be familiar to Bley's fans as "Wrong Key Donkey.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3 and 4)

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