Pat Metheny: From This Place

The new record features ten compositions by Metheny, who is joined by long-time drummer, Antonio Sanchez, Malaysian/Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh, and British pianist Gwilym Simcock as well as the Hollywood Studio Symphony conducted by Joel McNeely. Meshell Ndegeocello (vocals), Gregoire Maret (harmonica), and Luis Conte (percussion) are special guests on From This Place, Metheny’s first album of new material since 2014’s Kin (←→). Expanding on the strength of his touring quartet with pianist Gwilym Simcock, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Antonio Sanchez on From This Place, guitar master Pat Metheny adds the lush yet never overpowering sound of the Hollywood Studio Symphony led by Joel McNeely, as well as Luis Conte on additional percussion.

From This Place is lush, airy, elegant, and graceful, framed by adventurous harmonics, dark drama, and illuminating melodic invention.
This record features ten compositions by Pat Metheny, who is joined by long-time drummer, Antonio Sanchez, Malaysian/Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh, and British pianist Gwilym Simcock as well as the Hollywood Studio Symphony conducted by Joel McNeely. Meshell Ndegeocello (vocals), Gregoire Maret (harmonica), and Luis Conte (percussion) are special guests on From This Place, Metheny’s first album of new material since 2014’s Kin…

Guitarist, composer, and bandleader Pat Metheny is one of the most successful jazz musicians in the world. He is the only artist to win 20 Grammy Awards in 10 different categories. A consummate stylist and risk-taker, his musical signature melds a singular, euphoric sense of harmony with Afro-Latin and Brazilian sounds, rock, funk, global folk musics, and jazz. His 1976 debut, Bright Size Life, and the self-titled Pat Metheny Group two years later resonated with audiences and critics for its euphoric lyricism, dynamics, and rhythmic ideas.

Unlike almost any other modern musician, Pat Metheny remains uniquely unpredictable. A new Metheny record could be almost anything as the only musician to have won twelve of his twenty Grammy awards in twelve different categories. His recent recording Road To The Sun caused a sensation in the classical music world for its intricate and emotionally satisfying chamber music compositions. At the same time, its immediate predecessor From This Place was Downbeat magazine’s Jazz Record of the Year as an expansive and timeless large-scale work.

World-renowned jazz guitarist, singer and recent Grammy Award-winning producer John Pizzarelli takes on the songs of Pat Metheny in his new album “Better Days Ahead”. Having loved the recordings of the Pat Metheny Group since his teenage years, Pizzarelli welcomed the challenge of diving deep into Metheny’s cannon of dense, moving material and deconstructing Pat Metheny’s group arrangements on his seven-string guitar. “To say it was flattering to have John address these tunes is an understatement. I had no idea that it was all leading to this excellent solo guitar recording of my tunes” says Methany.

First and foremost, let's establish one thing. This review has absolutely nothing to do with my friend and fellow Blogcritic Mark Saleski, who is known to anyone who reads this site regularly as a somewhat big Pat Metheny fan. I've actually been listening to Metheny for quite some time myself. Though I admit that up until recently viewing this marvelous concert captured on DVD by the folks at Eagle Rock, that I'd lost track of Metheny for a number of years. But before we get to that, and at the risk of possibly angering Saleski and a few of our other music scribes like Pico, I've got a few words to say about jazz in general these days.