Pat Metheny - Dream Box

July 20, 2023

Label: Modern Recordings, 2023

Personnel - Pat Metheny: electric guitar, baritone guitar.

Monumental jazz guitarist Pat Metheny puts out a meditative album of intimate songs played solo on the electric guitar - six originals, two jazz standards and one cover. The material, composed over the course of a few years, was found in a folder of his laptop while on tour - last year he did 160 performances worldwide - and the recording process (a first layer of chords with subsequent melodic parts and improvisation) mostly follows the one presented on the track “Unity Village” from his debut masterpiece Bright Size Life (ECM Records, 1976).

The opening cut, “The Waves Are Not the Ocean”, is a marvel. A hypnotic folksy ballad with a comforting radiant light coming through all pores. Every note sounds important and big, showing a gorgeous folk-jazz lyricism that is transported to the following track, “From the Mountains”. The latter adds more mystery through enigmatic chords and an efficient bass line conduction on the baritone guitar that also assure the serenity of the atmosphere. Expressed with clear and emotional soloing, these first two pieces are demonstrative of Metheny’s incredible musicianship and compositional skills.

Another of his originals, “Trust Your Angel”, is a floater made out of smoothness that can be felt as spiritual or romantic. Yet, it is unable to scale the dizzy heights of “Never Was Love”, a piece by the late jazz pianist Russ Long. Given its urban contemporary feel, the song underscores a deeply felt melody over a tight harmonic work, sounding unmistakably Metheny. He has this unequalled way of grooving that is instantly recognizable.

The slow tunes almost flow into each other, and the guitarist delivers Styne/Cahn’s “I Fall in Love Too Easily” with lounge-style lyricism, and Luiz Bonfá’s “Morning of the Carnival” with an intuitively layered crossover appeal than sounds euphonious and connotative. Never heading to the stratosphere, Metheny centers on his softer musical self. The results are positive.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - The Waves Are Not the Ocean ► 02 - From the Mountains ► 05 - Never Was Love

Pat Metheny - Side Eye NYC (V1.IV)

September 27, 2021

Label: Modern Recordings, 2021

Personnel - Pat Metheny: guitar, bass guitar; James Francies; piano, synth, organ; Marcus Gilmore: drums.

The compositional rigor and fluid guitarism of Pat Metheny is fully on display on his latest album, Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV), which features him alongside two new mates of a younger generation, the keyboardist James Francies and the drummer Marcus Gilmore. Together, they plunge into the guitarist’s astounding musical universe, tackling three new compositions that seem to have been tailor-made for this ensemble format and dressing old material with elegant, contemporary sonic outfits. The album was recorded live at Sony Hall in New York.

The opening track, “It Starts When We Disappear”, is one of the new pieces and the album’s best. There’s this atmospheric radiation at start - devised with electronic loopers and a continual cymbal pulsation - that leads us to a beautiful guitar melody. Traveling splendorous musical avenues with irresistible drive and perceptive modulation, the trio surprises not only with transient offbeat maneuvers ingeniously pulled out of Francies’ hat - who also delivers a breathtaking solo - but also clever changes of mood from one passage to another. The emotional factor is stressed during Metheny’s improvisation, and there’s a crossover appeal that recalls the fabulous 1994 album We Live Here.

“Lodger” and “Zenith Blue” are the two other novelties. The former probes pop/rock balladry with an invulnerable bluesy touch, integrating pollution-smeared guitar, sustained organ chords and a suitable 4/4 pulse; the latter, instead, is a colorful fusion piece with curious rhythms and a contemplative vision that definitely seeks the beauty of things. And what a catchy synth guitar sound by the bandleader on this one!

Previously recorded pieces include: “Better Days Ahead”, a co-arrangement by Metheny and Francies that almost feels like a cooly paced bossanova number with glossy funk running at the backbone and plenty of jazz-folk melodies at the surface; “Timeline”, a curiously structured tune written for Elvin Jones and recorded with the drummer and the saxophonist Michael Brecker in 1999; and Ornette Coleman’s widely played “Turnaround”, which goes deep into the blues. Rounding out the program are two pieces taken from Metheny's 1976 album Bright Size Life, which get absolutely delightful treatments here. The clearer-in-sound “Bright Size Life” it’s like watercolor brushstrokes that builds into candid passion when Francies lays down a magnetic harmonic sequence to back up the late stage of the guitar solo, whereas “Sirabhorn” brings back that sophisticated folk-jazz deliberation, but featuring Gilmore’s tastefully subdued drumming.

A thrilling collaborative energy inundates this mature, engaging trio album, an impossible-to-ignore addition to the guitarist’s formidable discography.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - It Starts When We Disappear ► 04 - Bright Size Life ► 08 - Zenith Blue

Pat Metheny - From This Place

March 10, 2020

Label: Nonesuch Records, 2020

Personnel - Pat Metheny: guitar; Gwilym Simcock: piano; Linda May Han Oh: bass; Antonio Sanchez: drums + guests Gregoire Maret: harmonica; Meshell Ndegeocello: vocals; Luis Conte: percussion.

Four years after releasing the double-disc CD The Unity Sessions, guitar phenomenon Pat Metheny is back to his eclectic, fully persuasive sonic environments with a new album, From This Place. The program consists of 10 deftly written originals that reflect Metheny's refined musicianship, and is carried out alongside his new working quartet - with young British pianist Gwilym Simcock, Malaysian/Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh, and Mexican/American drummer Antonio Sanchez. Their sound kept evolving throughout the years they’ve been touring together, and the bandleader broadens his vivid palette with brilliant symphonic arrangements written by Alan Broadbent and Gil Goldstein and performed by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joel McNeely.

In a 13-minute ride, “America Undefined” makes for an epic opening statement in a glaring illustration of the way Metheny thinks musically. After a plaintive introduction designed with the cello at the center, the guitarist interlaces his admirably clear sound with Simcock’s piano, and the tune leaves that initially saddened state of mind behind. While the latter pushes the rhythm section forward as he improvises, Metheny then soothes the way with a transparent, elevated language that evokes tranquil landscapes. After passing those quiet zones, a crescendo bursts into fullness before landing on a bass pedal, axis of an atmospheric orchestration. For completion, a rocking rhythm gives a special thrill to the spectacular final section.

“Wide and Far” is an inspired effort with a straight eight feel and emotional gravity. The bass sits in an irresistible groove adequately supported by the drummer, but shifting in nature and tempo at particular passages. Populated by warm and soulful tones, this piece has a similar narrative vibe of that presented on the album We Live Here (1995), and this impression is transferred to “Same River”, a 3/4-metered piece propelled by an unfailing contemporary pop rhythm and designed with multiple guitar effects. Also waltzing, but with a romantic touch, “You Are” relies on a chordal chain that keeps moving in sequence. Although adhering to this circuitousness, the band sees Sanchez expanding the steady rhythmic bed with his grandiose drumming. By the end, the tune is gussied up by atmospheric vocal effects.

Whereas “Everything Explained” (the only piece with orchestral arrangement by Metheny) sounds very rootsy and folkish, “Pathmaker” nearly touches the Brazilian jazz idiom in its immersive crossover genre. In turn, the title track is a pop ballad prone to film scoring. Conveying disappointment but also hope in a better future, this piece was composed in the morning after Trump’s election and features lyrics by Alison Riley sung by her partner Meshell Ndegeocello.

Metheny brings richness to another couple of ballads. Both “The Past in Us” and “Love May Take a While” are introspectively brushed by Sanchez, but if the former piece spotlights the heart-breaking melodies of guest harmonicist Gregoire Maret, the latter is illuminated by the top-of-the-heap sensibilities of the guitarist, imparting a classic bolero feel right before its conclusion.

Conceived with perspective, developed with maturity, and sparkling with effulgence, this journey takes us to places worth visiting.