Initially
written as a blues "with a bridge," "Got My Mental"
was one of the last pieces we recorded. It is intended to
appear as if the 'head' has the form of a 32-bar A-A-B-A
standard, even though each [A] is 12-bars in length, and
[B] only has 8-bars functioning like the bridge in a 'rhythm
changes' tune. I chose the key of Ab solely because we don't
often play a blues in that key. If you've heard the recording,
then you already know that John Patitucci and I play all
the [A] melodies in unison. But, if you look at the lead
sheet you can see that I had a very specific bass part in
mind to be played in half-time. Because John's musicianship
is at such a high level, his musical instincts immediately
gravitated towards playing the head with me....and, he even
read it in treble clef. Again, a tribute to his tremendous
musicianship. When one is faced with recording and mixing
an entire CD in two days, you must try and be as flexible
about 'small details' as is possible! You will notice that
I had indicated that we should play [B] between each of
the solos, but, as we were only able to have ONE 3-hour
rehearsal the day before the sessions, I just felt it best
to let that part of the arrangement go. Were this tune to
be played live, I would certainly use the 'bridge' between
solos. At the rehearsal, we played the tune at a very brisk
tempo and it felt great, but, somehow when we got into the
studio, it was a different day and another feeling prevailed.
So, Jack DeJohnette counted it off at the tempo you now hear, which
felt good to us, and that was that! Like many of the tunes
on the CD it was done in one take. Here my philosophy is
that IF the performance basically captures the 'intent'
of the piece then doing it once more, or 6 more times, isn't
going to change it in any significant way. If it is a good
representation of where everyone was at on that particular
day then it should be fine. Jack's playing throughout is
brilliant, and his subtle commentary during the melodies
makes it seem like we had actually played this tune for
a solid week in a club before recording. Prior to Jack's
drum solo, and after the bass solo, Jack and I traded some
'fours.'
Over the years, I've learned that NO piece of music
is 'completely' original, and that everything can sound
a little bit like something else. Things we've heard,
even though it might have been years ago, can creep into
a new tune. In hindsight, "Got My Mental"(a phrase or
two) reminds me of the angular lines from an old blues,
"Uptown Ed," 
composed by Mike Brecker which
we recorded for the "BLUE MONTREUX"('78) LPs by
the Arista All-Stars(which included Randy Brecker, Mike
Mainieri, Warren Bernhardt, Eddie Gomez, and Steve Jordan).
In our earliest years in New York City, I remember spending
a lot of time in Mike's Chelsea loft and his showing me
a book he kept which contained only blues heads. He told
me that he went through periods where he would try to
write 'a blues a day!' This seemed like a great idea to
me, and at various times, I've done the same thing. As
a teacher, I have advised my students to try this device
too. Generally speaking, I always have doubts about some
of my own tunes, and this one almost didn't make it, but
Jack & John really seemed to like it, so we recorded it.
I will hope that these notes and insights add to your enjoyment of the tune, and that IT gets your "mental!"
