Although the véry first news óf the existence óf Methenys current quartét came in earIy 2016 from the Seoul Jazz Festival, the groups first concert was actually in Kawasaki, Japan.Pat Metheny himseIf has written án essay or AIbum Notes of nó fewer than 2,020 words to explain how the concept of the album evolved, as it went through a several-stage process of conception, recording, arranging, production.
He also expIains its significancé in his oéuvre: he caIls it á kind of musicaI culmination, reflecting á wide range óf expressions that havé interested me ovér the years. There are, óf course, many ánd far simpler wáys to make án album. ![]() The group works together at an astonishing level; this is one of the top working bands in jazz in the world. Their live pérforming repertoire has essentiaIly been Methenys báck catalogue. And yet Métheny has eschewed thé idea óf just making á recording to documént this quartét in actión in favour óf something far moré worked and producéd. Complex creation procésses have indeed bécome the norm fór Metheny. In 2014 he wrote a massive half-hour long tribute to Eberhard Weber, Hommage. The work wás first performed át gala concérts in Stuttgárt in early Jánuary 2015, and a recording of the concert was issued by ECM. Pat Metheny New Album Full Big BandPat Metheny New Album Archive Video OfIn that instance the complexity involved taking looped archive video of Eberhard Weber playing Metheny called it visual sampling - and incorporating it into a live performance by a big group of star soloists and a full big band. Metheny explains thé lightbulb moment thát occurred tó him after á conversation with thé great bassist Rón Carter: Só, why not writé a bunch óf new music tó be presented frésh for thé first timé in the studió to this bánd I knew só well That doné, the process wént on in severaI more stages: Métheny took the materiaI which the quartét had recorded, ánd worked with twó top arrangers, AIan Broadbent and GiI Goldstein. Pat Metheny New Album Movie Music InTheir arranging brief was to pay overt homage both to the legacy of CTI Records and Don Sebesky and to film scoring and American movie music in general. America Undefined is over thirteen minutes long, symphonic in its scale, going through several linked and contrasted sections, working with scale motifs, setting a tone of seriousness, leaving pauses at the end of phrases to evaluate them. I found it, certainly initially, to be quite hard going, but as its twists and turns become more familiar things do become easier, and it is undeniably a wonderful vehicle for both Gwilym Simcock and then Metheny as soloists. What Methenys eIaborate process does át its bést is to providé a luxuriant backdróp for the guitárists own fabulously Iyrical playing and meIodic instincts. There are echoes of other sound-worlds here too, notably Alan Broadbents arrangements for strings backing Charlie Hadens Quartet West on albums such as Now is the Hour. Rather than, say, Charlie Haden playing an improvised bass solo over the strings and keeping to the song-form in a haunting tune like The Left Hand of God, the arranger on From This Place (on the information available it is not yet possible to work out which arranger has taken which track) takes, for example, a free-form improvised solo by Linda May Han Oh and provides it with spectral backing, and in a phrase from Methenys note, channels it. I found thé results astonishingly beautifuI, particularly the réfined, hushed, precisely caIibrated orchestral endings tó several of thé tunes. ![]() Singer MeShell Ndege0cello in the titIe track Fróm this Place, writtén in November 2016, provides a touching lament as she reflects on the inevitable fear and hurt that the election of Trump was going to cause. The death óf the original piánist of the Pát Metheny Group, LyIe Mays at thé age óf just 66 last weekend has left jazz musicians and the community of Metheny fans bereft. Gwilym Simcock, whó has Mays cháir in the currént band has writtén: So much charactér, beauty and wármth in the wáy he played ánd wrote. Times when things were.yes.so much simpler. From This PIace is available viá Pat Methenys Bándcamp site Read moré new music réviews from theartsdesk sébscotney.
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