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Review

Pat Metheny

Orchestrion

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by Ian Mann

February 09, 2010

/ ALBUM

Orchestrion is typically classy and technologically innovative but there remains a perplexing sense of a lost opportunity.

Right at the beginning I should make it clear that I’ve been a huge Pat Metheny fan for some thirty plus years now. He was one of the first jazz artists I ever listened to and I can still remember what a breath of fresh air the 1978 ECM release entitled simply “Pat Metheny Group” was after the excesses of so much 70’s rock and fusion.

In those early days every new Metheny release seemed to bring a surprise, the synclavier sound of “Offramp” or the first extensive use of voices on “First Circle”. He’s one of those artists where I’ve felt obliged to buy virtually every new release but since leaving ECM his music seems to have become increasingly homogenised. Every group release since “Still Life (Talking)” seems to have had much the same template although I will admit that “Imaginary Day” made a pretty good fist of breaking the mould. It’s all good, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t stir me like it used to.

In fact much of Metheny’s best music has been made away from the regular group. There have been some inspired trios- Haynes/ Holland, Stewart/Grenadier and Sanchez/McBride plus more experimental work with Charlie Haden, Steve Reich, Derek Bailey and of course Ornette Coleman on the incendiary “Song X”.

I’ve seen Metheny live on virtually all his visits to the UK since the early 80’s and almost every gig has been a tour de force with my favourites being the First Circle tour (Manchester 1985) and the extraordinary “The Way Up” concert at Hammersmith some twenty years later. He’s still a dynamic live performer and I’ve only once been disappointed. The Metheny/Mehldau project just didn’t work for me, they seemed to get in each others way and both were drowned out by Jeff Ballard’s over loud drumming. By Metheny’s high standards the records were pretty disappointing too.

So, I’m still a fan but one’s heroes shouldn’t be above criticism. “Orchestrion” is one of the few Metheny releases I’ve not gone out and bought as I’ve been sent a review copy. On the other hand I won’t be at The Barbican when he reveals the Orchestrion project in all it’s glory on February 10th. A press ticket wasn’t forthcoming and for the first time I’ve decided that the face value of the tickets is unacceptable, especially when added to travel and accommodation costs. Pat’s never been a cheap artist to see but in the past the prices have been worth it for the scarcity of his visits and the sheer quality of the music and the performances. This time with prices ranging from £45.00 to £60.00 a throw I feel someone’s taking the piss especially during a recession. I could be missing out on one of the gigs of a lifetime but you have to draw the line somewhere.

The “Orchestrion” album itself is one of the most eagerly awaited Metheny releases for some time and it has received surprisingly wide coverage in the media including an interview on prime time radio as part of Radio 4’s Today programme. As has been well documented by now Metheny has taken his inspiration from his childhood fascination with the “piano player” his grandfather kept in his Wisconsin basement. Metheny has always been fascinated with musical technology- synclaviers, samplers, gizmo laden multi stringed guitars etc. and “Orchestrion” blends his love of the new with his continuing fascination with old fashioned “mechanical music” technology.

Orchestrions were a late 18thC/early19thC development of the player piano idea where a whole range of instruments could be played mechanically. Metheny , plus a team of scientists, inventors, instrument makers, luthiers etc. etc. have created a modern version that can be played using modern solenoid and pneumatic technology. Metheny can trigger the various elements from his guitar and the five relatively lengthy pieces on this album represent compositions expressly written for this unique instrumental and technological configuration . The accompanying booklet written by Metheny himself explains the mechanics of it all far more lucidly than I can but this really is a solo album in the truest sense of the word.

Although Metheny “plays” keyboards,basses, drums, vibes, marimba and other percussion it is still his signature guitar sound that provides the record’s dominant voice. Metheny’s warm tones are instantly recognisable in pretty much whatever context he’s heard in and it’s also clear throughout “Orchestrion” that his melodic sense as a composer remains resolutely intact. By rights this should be the most exciting Metheny album for years, it’s his chance to do something truly unique and although I like it and there’s some good music here it still sounds rather too much like a Pat Metheny Group record to me.

Metheny uses the new technology to create a dense, orchestral sounding backdrop over which he cuts loose on electric guitar. It’s obviously a labour of love building up the layers but it still sounds incredibly similar to the Group. Cynics will point out that Lyle Mays and his colleagues have become increasingly faceless over the years anyway and that in effect Metheny is just cutting out the middle man. In part they have a point.

The opening fifteen minute plus “Orchestrion” has much of the structure and density of the suite like “The Way Up” album released under the PMG banner in 2005. The complex, interlocking layers of keyboards and percussion also recall the work of composer Steve Reich with whom Metheny collaborated on Reich’s piece “Electric Counterpoint”.It’s tricky, clever stuff and all the more remarkable for the way in which it was created. Metheny’s guitar work is as brilliant as ever as he solos seamlessly above the supporting structures of his own creation. And yet this opening piece somehow has the air of an exercise about it. Perhaps reading about the project beforehand influences the mood of the listener, one finds oneself analysing the mechanics rather than enjoying the music for it’s own sake despite the fact that the track “Orchestrion” has much of the epic sweep and drama of much of Metheny’s best loved work.

I found myself enjoying the relative simplicity of the following “Entry Point” rather more. On this extended ballad Metheny’s warm, conversational guitar sound is the focus but even here there are times when it all sounds uncannily like the PMG. The “orchestrion” itself is used more sparsely here which, for me, allows the music to breathe and puts the emphasis back on the innate tunefulness of the composition.

“Expansion” sounds like one of the PMG’s jauntier excursions, pleasant enough but adding little to Metheny’s impressive canon. Indeed it’s the kind of Metheny track that draws the “it’s just elevator music” jibe from some of my jazz loving friends. There are occasions when I have to admit they have a valid point but Pat’s stunning, if trademark, guitar solo in the tune’s opening section saves the day for me here. I just love the guy’s guitar sound but I can understand his critics.  The percussion breaks in the second half of the tune illustrate the problems of the “orchestrion” method, for the first time the music sounds soulless and mechanical.

“Soul Search” combines lush balladry with a more swinging central section and strikes a balance between Metheny’s trio work and the PMG group sound. It’s the kind of strong melody that could find life away from the Orchestrion project, particularly so in the trio format.

Another powerful tune “Spirit Of The Air” ends the album on a high note with Metheny’s guitars soaring above a dense,urgent, percussion heavy, Morse code mimicking backdrop. It’s the kind of piece that in the PMG’s hands would be a great crowd pleaser.

“Orchestrion” is an album that almost raises more questions than it answers. It’s certainly a success on it’s own terms and the effort and love that went into it are immediately evident. Yet for all that it still fails to surprise, it sounds almost exactly like you’d expect a PMG record to sound with the added liability of a little mechanical coldness here and there. In actual fact the record sounds a lot more human than it’s initial premise might suggest, but it does beg the question why go to all this trouble to sound so much like the group?

Also given the fact that Metheny borrowed vibes and mallets from Gary Burton and drums from Jack DeJohnette why not get them to add a little bit of their individual magic (especially Burton) to the project?  Metheny got uncharacteristically prickly when Jez Nelson pushed him on these matters in an interview for Jazz On 3.

“Orchestrion” is a good record. From Pat Metheny you wouldn’t expect anything less and I’m sure I’ll continue to listen to and enjoy this album. I wish I could have afforded to see it all done live which might conceivably have changed my views but I can’t help the feeling that Pat has missed an opportunity here to create something really new and distinctive. If anyone can open up new horizons with this mix of old and new technology it’s Metheny and if there’s ever to be a second “Orchestrion” album I’ll be listening with interest. I can’t help feeling that for all the technological innovations that musically he’s played it rather safe here, but having said that I’ve no doubts that the majority of his fiercely devoted fanbase will lap it up without asking too many awkward questions.

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