Prelude: First Circle

I was studying composition with Hank Levy at Towson University, between 1987 and 1989, when he introduced me to Pat Metheny’s music. Hank played me a recording of the North Texas State University big band, the One O’Clock Lab Band, playing its arrangement of Pat’s epic “First Circle” (the original is on the 1984 album First Circle). I was blown away by the music, and just as much by Hank’s reaction as we listened to it together.

My first big-band composition under Hank’s tutelage was “Guess Who?” (1988), listed on my Compositions page. The title owns up to how much it borrowed from Hank’s own chart “Peek Into a New Time Zone,” all in 7/4 and 14/8.

What made me a mega fan was Pat’s use of exotic rhythms and time signatures. That became the subject of my doctoral dissertation at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, The Exotic Rhythms of Don Ellis (2002), which I dedicated to Hank.

“The epic ‘First Circle’ … begins with hand claps in 22/8. This is the song that brought me into the Metheny circle back in the late 80’s.”