Description
With Speaking of Now the Pat Metheny Group blends further into its customary habitat. The hip-hop and funk diversions of the 1995 We Live Here are long gone, supplanted by the default PMG mix of soft-focus Latin rhythms, mellifluous guitar, tinkling piano and heavenly vocal melodies. For some, the diaphanous surface of the typical Me
With Speaking of Now the Pat Metheny Group blends further into its customary habitat. The hip-hop and funk diversions of the 1995 We Live Here are long gone, supplanted by the default PMG mix of soft-focus Latin rhythms, mellifluous guitar, tinkling piano and heavenly vocal melodies. For some, the diaphanous surface of the typical Metheny Group record transmits blandness, but the compositions are often ingenious. Try the opening "As It Is", for example, which has a breadth of structure more often found in orchestral writing than pop-jazz; beneath the epic exterior, there's serious musical intent in structure, harmony and sound. There's no less musical content when Metheny tears up the fingerboard in "On Her Way"; his tone may be muted, but the ideas are undiluted, the delivery full force. As ever, the lyrical mood is occasionally broken by the howling viola-cum-trumpet guitar-synth sound that has become a Metheny trademark, but real trumpet is well played on several occasions by new brassman Cuong Vu. There's also a new vocalist in Richard Bona and a new drummer in Antonio Sanchez. However, the arrival of new blood does nothing to disrupt the signature sound of the PMG. The long-governing trio of Metheny, Lyle Mays and Steve Rodby makes sure the group stays true to its roots and, perhaps, its audience's expectations. --Mark Gilbert
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Track listing1. As It Is
2. Proof
3. Another Life
4. The Gathering Sky
5. You
6. On Her Way
7. A Place In The World
8. Afternoon
9. Wherever You Go
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jazz
(4 items) by rickdog
Last updated 4 years, 3 months ago
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