photo provided by Sherri Rase
OrchestrionCDcover
...........................................................................................

A good artist continues to hone his or her craft. Refinements, polish, and new influences are assimilated, burnished, and brought forth in new and different ways. A great artist moves his or her art past anywhere it's been before to entirely new ground. Pat Metheny's "Orchestrion" moves very good to breathtaking.

I have loved Pat Metheny since my college days, when his "First Circle" closed out my jazz show in the evenings at 12:50 a.m. The textures of handclaps, voice, guitar, drums, and other instruments provided both a sweet cool energy, and moved the mind toward the sense of possibility that I still cherish today. I was sent "Orchestrion" along with several other disks and saved it till last, in order to savor it slowly, and my sacrifice was well rewarded.

Metheny's liner notes discuss his fascination with his maternal grandfather's player piano. His grandfather was a gifted musician and vocalist, and one of the chief attractions of the visit was playing rolls and rolls of the perforated paper, until childish legs tired of pumping the pedals at last. This fascination became a brilliant curiosity, as the mature musician that Metheny became crested the wave of technology that has been pervading music for the last half century.

Redefining what it means to have a solo album, Metheny has called his creation "Orchestrion," after the device that was a natural outgrowth of the player piano-if you can automate one instrument, why not a host of them!? The orchestrion was a concoction that consisted of a variety of instruments and the ever acoustic/acoustic-electric Metheny pushes the boundaries further in longer works that are more, well, orchestrial in nature. He has created instruments to achieve certain sounds and has christened the class of instruments "orchestrionic."

The title song has the thrumming energy we've come to expect from Metheny's work, overlaying a modern near continuo with a sinuous textured line, each highlighting the other. "Entry Point" is more in the sweet cool hip mode that a trendy uptown coffee shop would feature during the evening rush. "Expansion" has that Friday night feel of anything could happen and has a balanced and energetic feel. Moving moving moving forward, "Expansion" is a boon companion leading us into wonderful things. "Soul Search" is classic jazz featuring bell-toned guitar in virtuosic fingering, leading itself on a wild, goosy chase. "Spirit of the Air" has the vibraphone and brush-stroked drums that speak of sunrise or sunset with a brisk wind blowing, lifting one's hair off the forehead and carrying us toward something new. Metheny has retained his style while moving an art form forward, ever forward.

This Nonesuch Records release is available at your favorite CD sellers. Give yourself this gift of Timeless music, from an artist tailor-made for urban dwellers, for the best of reasons-no reason at all.