Pat Metheny     
EFG London Jazz Festival, Barbican

  
PAT METHENY’s illustrious career and pioneering sonic vision has given him a unique perspective on how to push boundaries and innovate. 

From his work playing in traditional formats — solo, in duets, trios, quartets and various large ensembles including the Pat Metheny Group — to writing and producing an array of milestone albums, singles and soundtrack work, his urge to investigate what might be possible has been at the forefront of his thinking. 

His latest album MoonDial is a solo recording using a baritone nylon string acoustic guitar specially made by Linda Manzer, one of the world finest luthiers.   

His latest European solo tour features works from across his career. In London, opening the EFG London Jazz Festival, a deceptively simple stage setup featured an array of acoustic, electric and bass guitars, plus a big reveal surprise. 

Opening with a medley of early works including Phase Dance from 1989 then into a delicate interpretation of his Bowie collaboration single This is Not America. Metheny then spent some 10 minutes explaining his journey across the decades, from growing up in Missouri and witnessing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan TV show — a moment that changed his life — to taking in Miles Davis and his subsequent career in bands and solo. His fascination with the infinite sonic possibilities of the guitar remains a constant. 

His compositions fuse jazz, classical and pop, combining them with a curiously American moody ambience. Ahead of the tour he summarised his approach to the work: “The idea is to try to keep coming up with different angles and ways of thinking about music, while hopefully keeping a fundamental aesthetic at work in all of it. In other words, to continue the research.”

Then onto a selection of works from the new album MoonDial. The title-track is a glorious fusion of melodic rhythmic jazz dynamics, a contemplative work that highlights the detail of the baritone guitar. La Crosse slows the pace, with a mixture of Parisian ambience, New York City ambition and quiet English introspection, but never sentimental. By way of Lennon and McCartney’s Here There and Everywhere, we return to Metheny’s compositions, airy and poetic. The pace and tonal dynamics are always assured; guitars, looped and experimented with, and the acoustic of the Barbican Hall fills with a warm bass glow and high end detail. 

Then comes the big reveal. A rear stage curtain opens to reveal the Orchestrion, a large mechanical instrument, essentially an ensemble orientated machine deploying acoustic and acoustoelectric musical instruments that are mechanically controlled, using solenoids and pneumatics, developed over a number of years. 

Tracks from that album follow, the pace and tonal dynamics always assured, guitars, looped and experimented with before a final return to two of his personal favourite works. Jimmy Webb’s classic haunting song Witchita Lineman and Lennon and McCartney’s And I Love Her. 

Metheny remains at the top of his game, a lyrical master of his craft, always restless to move on and discover ever more original directions for the guitar. 

For more information see: https://www.patmetheny.com