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Pat Metheny Unity Band: Denver, CO, September 7, 2012
by Geoff Anderson
Pat Metheny Unity BandBotanic GardensDenver, COSeptember 7, 2012Pat Metheny is restless. And we're all the richer for it. Over a career that is now pushing 40 years, Metheny has been a constant innovator, not only in the development of musical styles, but new sounds as well, going so far as to invent new musical instruments to help him push, and sometimes explode, sonic boundaries. Now on tour with his Unity Band, Metheny showcased many of ...
Continue ReadingPat Metheny Unity Band: Kennett Square, PA, August 9, 2012
by Troy Collins
Pat Metheny Unity BandLongwood GardensKennett Square, PennsylvaniaAugust 9, 2012Over the past few years Longwood Gardens, a horticultural conservancy located in Southeastern Pennsylvania, has hosted a wide variety of international musical talent. Situated in a wooded area of Kennett Square, the conservancy offers multiple performance venues in a beautiful, bucolic setting conveniently located near Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Three days before his 58th birthday (August 12, 2012), Pat Metheny brought his critically acclaimed Unity Band ...
Continue ReadingPat Metheny: Pulling It All Together
by Lawrence Peryer
As the 1970s came to a close, guitarist Pat Metheny was riding high on a wave of well-received albums, from his self-named Group and Trio and as a contributor to works by vibraphonist Gary Burton, bassist Jaco Pastorius and others. In 1980, he went somewhere else entirely and recorded what has come to be regarded as a landmark album, 80/81 (ECM, 1980). Featuring Metheny, tenor saxophonists Dewey Redman and Michael Brecker, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Jack DeJohnette, this double-album ...
Continue ReadingUnity Band
by Ian Patterson
Pat Metheny Unity Band Nonesuch Records 2012 It may be premature to write about the Pat Metheny Group in the past tense, but it's been seven years now since The Way Up (Nonesuch Records, 2005) and its last world tour. A feeling is creeping in that the 68-minute opus may have been a magnificent closing statement and a poignant swansong for that important group. How, precisely, do you top that? The perpetually busy Missouri guitarist ...
Continue ReadingUnity Band
by John Kelman
In a time when compressed music is the norm—often removing the details an artist has worked so hard to capture in recording—it's great to have someone like guitarist Pat Metheny still paying attention to the very minutiae that can make a very, very good record great. Unity Band would be a very, very good record under any circumstance. It's Metheny's first recording to prominently feature a reedman since 1985's collaboration with Ornette Coleman, Song X—tremendously remixed and remastered in a ...
Continue ReadingPat Metheny: What's It All About
by Nenad Georgievski
Pat MethenyWhat's It All About Nonesuch Records2011 On first listen, this is an interesting record, on second, a great record, and on third and onward, What's It All About is an essential record. Recorded in the same manner as guitarist Pat Metheny's previous solo outing, One Quiet Night, (Nonesuch, 2003), Metheny sat one night with his acoustic guitars and made this wonderful offering.As a genre, jazz has always been both ...
Continue ReadingPat Metheny: What's It All About
by John Kelman
Pat Metheny has released plenty of solo albums over the years, but One Quiet Night (Nonesuch, 2003) found him turning to a different modus operandi, imposing a series of restrictions: one guitar, one tuning, no overdubs. An intimate album of mostly original material, beyond three covers including Keith Jarrett's “My Song" and Gerry & the Pacemakers' hit, “Ferry Cross the Mersey," One Quiet Night was a more intimate and immediate alternative to his production-heavy Pat Metheny Group releases, and recent ...
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