Pat Metheny – From This Place
For such a creative and continually stretching the boundaries artist it’s strange to be reporting that From This Place is fusion and jazz guitar maestro Pat Metheny’s first studio album of new material since Kin with the PM Unity Group in 2014.
However it’s been worth the six year wait because From This Place is an outstanding album that, exceptional contributions truth be told, is a solo work in name only.
Expansive opener 'America Undefined' has the Pat Metheny sonic trademarks firmly in place with a motif riff followed by accomplished solos from Metheny and featured British pianist Gwilym Simcock.
It’s also a thirteen and a half minute lesson in dynamics and sonic tension as it rises and falls before returning to the motif.
Parts of 'America Undefined' are cinematic in nature (as is a lot of Pat Metheny’s music) helped in no small part by the strings and percussive effects towards the end, which sound both ominous and foreboding (the track take its title and expressive lead from Metheny’s previously stated disappointment at political developments in the US).
Following number 'Wide and Far' is more succinct affair but again carries a soundtrack feel while incorporating a more traditional "head" to which the musicians return after solo passages of guitar and piano.
The string section helps to maintain the epic feel by underpinning a number that again demonstrates a mastery of dynamics before closing out with a double bass solo from award winning Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh.
'You Are' sees Pat Metheny and band in more reflective mood.
Drums and percussion provide counterpoint to the repetitive figure before a simple but effective melody line played by guitar and synth enters; the number fades by more mastery of dynamics and a beautifully played, and beautifully recorded, piano (album production is by Pat Metheny’s long-time PM Group bassist Steve Rodby).
'Same River' starts with a double bass riff (Linda May Han Oh is outstanding, but effectively understated, throughout the album) that evokes images of a smoky jazz club before band and strings enter to create a Bond theme-scape.
Pat Metheny solos on synth guitar before the number returns to the theme and a masterful, and natural, fade out.
The more traditional jazz workout 'Pathmaker' is set against a background of strings with Pat Metheny utilising his trademark arch-top sound (Metheny’s solo amply demonstrates how he builds a solo and employs the lower registers of the guitar, with beautiful tonal results).
Gwilym Silcock is incredibly comfortable in this trad. jazz role (his solo is both inventive and melodic) but 'Pathmaker' is also the number that requires the most listens to fully appreciate the complexities involved.
'The Past in Us' is one of those down-tempo, sparsely arranged numbers at which Pat Metheny excels (think 'Letter From Home' or the PM Unity Group’s 'Born').
Introduced by a gorgeous piano figure with some stunning chord choices, the melody is shared between acoustic guitar and a synthesised harmonica sound.
'Everything Explained' is guitar driven until half-way through when Gwilym Simcock steps in to take the number in an entirely different direction with an initially rhythmic piano part that develops into another stunning jazz-inflected solo.
Pat Metheny then returns with the melody to close out a joyous and up-beat jazz number.
The first of two surprises on the album then emerges via the vocal-led title track, featuring Meshell Ndegeocello.
Almost hymnal in delivery with sadder lyrical undertones, Ndegeocello skilfully provides a four-part harmony before giving way to an understated by highly emotive acoustic solo from Pat Metheny.
'Sixty-Six' is built over an almost train-shuffle rhythm provided by Pat Metheny’s long-time drummer, Antonio Sanchez (who features throughout the album).
After Metheny’s tasteful introduction there’s an impressive double bass solo; thereafter Metheny takes a solo, the number building to a crescendo before dropping to another double bass contribution.
Bonus Track album closer 'Love May Take Awhile' is the other surprise, given it sounds like it has been transported from the era of The Great American Songbook (sans lyric) or a 1940s movie soundtrack.
Pat Metheny overlays the orchestration with a beautifully phrased melody line that perfectly suits the mood.
From This Place features world class musicians and strings accompaniment (Hollywood Studio Symphony conducted by Joel McNeely with many arrangements by noted jazz musician and composer Gil Goldstein) that are second to none.
One of Pat Metheny’s greatest achievements to date and featuring unbridled musical joy, melancholy, sadness and a little America Undefined musical anger, this Metheny masterwork demands (and deserves) to travel Wide and Far...
Nelson McFarlane & Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
However it’s been worth the six year wait because From This Place is an outstanding album that, exceptional contributions truth be told, is a solo work in name only.
Expansive opener 'America Undefined' has the Pat Metheny sonic trademarks firmly in place with a motif riff followed by accomplished solos from Metheny and featured British pianist Gwilym Simcock.
It’s also a thirteen and a half minute lesson in dynamics and sonic tension as it rises and falls before returning to the motif.
Parts of 'America Undefined' are cinematic in nature (as is a lot of Pat Metheny’s music) helped in no small part by the strings and percussive effects towards the end, which sound both ominous and foreboding (the track take its title and expressive lead from Metheny’s previously stated disappointment at political developments in the US).
Following number 'Wide and Far' is more succinct affair but again carries a soundtrack feel while incorporating a more traditional "head" to which the musicians return after solo passages of guitar and piano.
The string section helps to maintain the epic feel by underpinning a number that again demonstrates a mastery of dynamics before closing out with a double bass solo from award winning Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh.
'You Are' sees Pat Metheny and band in more reflective mood.
Drums and percussion provide counterpoint to the repetitive figure before a simple but effective melody line played by guitar and synth enters; the number fades by more mastery of dynamics and a beautifully played, and beautifully recorded, piano (album production is by Pat Metheny’s long-time PM Group bassist Steve Rodby).
'Same River' starts with a double bass riff (Linda May Han Oh is outstanding, but effectively understated, throughout the album) that evokes images of a smoky jazz club before band and strings enter to create a Bond theme-scape.
Pat Metheny solos on synth guitar before the number returns to the theme and a masterful, and natural, fade out.
The more traditional jazz workout 'Pathmaker' is set against a background of strings with Pat Metheny utilising his trademark arch-top sound (Metheny’s solo amply demonstrates how he builds a solo and employs the lower registers of the guitar, with beautiful tonal results).
Gwilym Silcock is incredibly comfortable in this trad. jazz role (his solo is both inventive and melodic) but 'Pathmaker' is also the number that requires the most listens to fully appreciate the complexities involved.
'The Past in Us' is one of those down-tempo, sparsely arranged numbers at which Pat Metheny excels (think 'Letter From Home' or the PM Unity Group’s 'Born').
Introduced by a gorgeous piano figure with some stunning chord choices, the melody is shared between acoustic guitar and a synthesised harmonica sound.
'Everything Explained' is guitar driven until half-way through when Gwilym Simcock steps in to take the number in an entirely different direction with an initially rhythmic piano part that develops into another stunning jazz-inflected solo.
Pat Metheny then returns with the melody to close out a joyous and up-beat jazz number.
The first of two surprises on the album then emerges via the vocal-led title track, featuring Meshell Ndegeocello.
Almost hymnal in delivery with sadder lyrical undertones, Ndegeocello skilfully provides a four-part harmony before giving way to an understated by highly emotive acoustic solo from Pat Metheny.
'Sixty-Six' is built over an almost train-shuffle rhythm provided by Pat Metheny’s long-time drummer, Antonio Sanchez (who features throughout the album).
After Metheny’s tasteful introduction there’s an impressive double bass solo; thereafter Metheny takes a solo, the number building to a crescendo before dropping to another double bass contribution.
Bonus Track album closer 'Love May Take Awhile' is the other surprise, given it sounds like it has been transported from the era of The Great American Songbook (sans lyric) or a 1940s movie soundtrack.
Pat Metheny overlays the orchestration with a beautifully phrased melody line that perfectly suits the mood.
From This Place features world class musicians and strings accompaniment (Hollywood Studio Symphony conducted by Joel McNeely with many arrangements by noted jazz musician and composer Gil Goldstein) that are second to none.
One of Pat Metheny’s greatest achievements to date and featuring unbridled musical joy, melancholy, sadness and a little America Undefined musical anger, this Metheny masterwork demands (and deserves) to travel Wide and Far...
Nelson McFarlane & Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ