Magnificent Metheny

When you think it can't get any better, it does. After the release of the excellent "Trio 99-->00" rumors circulated of a Pat Metheny Trio recording of his tour with Larry Grenadier on bass, and Bill Stewart on drums. Our prayers have been answered, and we get a wonderful 2 CD package, "Trio--> Live" taken from Metheny's tour of the US, Europe, and Japan. Disc 1 starts out with a nice reworking of Pat's classic "Bright Size Life" featuring a nimble, quick fingered solo from him, and impeccable rhythm work from Grenadier and Stewart. Next is one of the highlights of the entire album, an incredible nearly 20 minute version of Pat's "Question and Answer". The tune starts out with a relaxed bluesy solo from Metheny on his regular Ibanez "Pat Metheny" model electric, followed by a bass solo, and a spectacular solo from Bill Stewart, showing some Elvin Jones like circular rhythms, all the while showing great originality and authority of his own. He is one of the top drummers on the scene today and a force to be reckoned with. Then comes the coup de grace: Pat whips out the guitar synth for a literally torching solo with Stewart upping the ante to a inhumanly possible degree. I've never heard Pat generate this much heat from his Roland GR300 on record, and he slowly lets us down from this tremendous orgiastic,(for lack of a better term) roller coaster ride with a gradually fading ending to the much enthusiastic audience approval.

Among other highlights on disc 1 are a very cool, lightly swinging and rhythmically interesting interpretation of John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", and a beautiful rendition of "Into The Dream" on the 42 string Pikasso guitar. This piece has come a long way from it's first version on "Imaginary Day" and it beautifully segues into a wonderful trio arrangement of the PMG classic "So May it Secretly Begin".

Two tunes are the major talk of disc 2: an 18 minute avant garde exploration called "Faith Healer", and a bizarre 12 string guitar blues called "Counting Texas". "Faith Healer" features some searing guitar work from Pat, and his Roland VG 8 finds him, along with Grenadier and Stewart creating very thick textures, and colors, rather than a song per se. Pat's mindblowing work on this track goes from welding tool like scrapes, to flat out thrashing noise that ranks up there with any hardcore/metal bands out there. From Pat's primal phrasing to Larry's bee like buzzing using a bow and Bill's tumbling, sprawling drums "Faith Healer" brings to mind a war, a struggle for survival, a megalomaniac bringing down the world to it's knees in an apocalypse. The tune features a rare semi quiet moment when Pat switches to the GR300 for a solo reminiscent of something from "Offramp". And finally, for a closer, Pat and company play a freaky tune called "Counting Texas" which features him playing a processed fretless 12 string guitar sounding something not unlike a drunk Country and Western guitarist, as well as great tradeoffs between Larry and Bill.

Special mention has to go to engineer David Oakes for his superb job on the sound for these live recordings, making you feel like you are there. Catching every nuance of the small clubs and theatres. Also PMG bassist Steve Rodby did some seamless work digitally assembling and editing the pieces from different venues together to form a continuous performance. No decrease in sound quality, strange fluctuations in pitch or anything of that nature here. I love Pat's straight ahead, and Group projects, but this album is not for everyone. Some fans of the PMG may be scared off by the rawness of this record, as well as some of the more adventurous stuff like "Faith Healer", and some long time fans of his straight ahead work might be put off by the last two tunes. Overall, this is a brilliant document in the ever changing musical life of Pat Metheny. His playing is hotter and more inventive here than in anything he's recorded under his own name recently, and he has a first rate trio of players in Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart. Let's hope they get back together again in a few years for another great recording.

Pat Metheny(acoustic, electric guitars, guitar synth, 42 string Pikasso guitar,12 string fretless guitar) Larry Grenadier(bass) Bill Stewart(drums)

*note, Carolyn Chrzan, Pat's guitar technician strums a few notes on the Pikasso, slightly hidden on stage at the end of "So May it Secretly Begin"