Orchestrion [+digital booklet]

If you were to close your eyes when unwrapping this CD and start playing it without looking at its cover (or being aware of the story behind it) you'd think it was "just" another Pat Metheny record: the characteristic creamy guitar tone, strong sense of melody, knotty changes and detailed textures created by the subtle overlaying of dozens of instruments are all present and correct. If you were then to pick up the cover, you'd see all those instruments spread out across a room, though you might miss the crouching figure of Metheny down in the corner. Reading the credits, you'd realize that he's the only musician on this record, making this the solo date to end them all.

Details about the technology that he's used to trigger the sounds the instruments create - starting with a note played on his guitar and ending with a tapped cymbal, or a strummed guitar, or a mallet hitting a marimba, or air being blown across a bottle half-filled with water - are available in the sleeve notes, or his website. In this age of overdubbing and the accurate computer synthesis of musical sounds, some of this information can appear irrelevant and, of course, in the end, you come back to the music, less concerned with how it's made than what it sounds like. And it sounds good: exciting, inventive, lyrical, detailed and pleasant. It's still early days listening to it, but already I'm fond of the intricate melody and stop-start changes of "Expansion", and the way in which "Spirit Of The Air" lays a catchy tune on top of an driving, insistent pulse - similar to "Cathedral In A Suitcase" from Secret Story.

But something in the back of your mind remembers that these sounds aren't being made by a machine, or a group of some of the expert musicians that Metheny's played with in the past, or even overdubs made by Metheny himself: instead, the sound feels organic, swinging and - paradoxically for something that's held together by MIDI, computers, robots, pnuematics and solenoids - *human*. Of course, to be able to see and hear these pieces being reproduced live, with just Metheny and all his instruments onstage, will be another story again. I can't wait.

I won't go into any detail about the actual orchestrion itself. Other reviewers have done that very well and there are many links on youtube and Mr Metheny's website which explain and show how it works. Make no mistake though the orchestrion is a major progressive development technologically over the older versions and the player piano.

The orchestrion sounds uncannily like a group of musicians (that is how convincing this new invention is) It does sound somewhat different to Pat's varying ensembles but there are complex interactions going on on the macro scale as well as the micro scale of the music.
In a sense this is a kind of follow up to the old album 'new Chautauqua' On that album pat tried to use the studio as an instrument with overdubbed guitars etc to build up the songs. On that album probably due to the technology available and restricted studio time he came away with a very listenable album whose sparseness was highly appealing. On Orchestrion he is afforded a broader, richer pallette to work from and 20 odd years more musical experience.

The Orchestrion is a machine which has been humanised (or gives the illusion of such) It is a very tight but flexible sounding 'ensemble'all under the control of Mr Metheny.

I felt a little underwhelmed on first listen but several plays later this album really begins to grow in the memory. There are a lot of very complex things going on in this music, structurally, rhythmically and melodically & Pat plays some wonderful melodic solos over all of this.

Pat has always done his own thing musically and often taken some wide detours on his musical journey (Song X, Zero tolerance for silence, the sign of 4 etc) Orchestrion unlike those albums follows more in the footesteps of the PMG albums/Secret Story and the way up. If the fans wish to follow that is up to them.

The songs on the album (all multi instrumental) have all the hall marks of a Metheny composition but the orchestrion allows him the personal freedom to change the songs often subtly and to do new things. There are new twists to a lot of the music here and like 'Secret Story' the spaces are often filled with great detail in the sound.

The first track is one of the many highlights on the album and is a little reminiscent of 'first circle' from the album of the same name. It builds to a wonderful climactic apotheosis. There are a lot of time changes in the songs which keeps the listener's attention also.

Some attention has been brought to the quality of the drumming/bass playing on this album, namely that it is not up to the standards of a Mcbride or a Sanchez. I think this is asking over and beyond the possibilities of Pat and the orchestrion. The bass and drumming segments are definitely functional within the compositional structure of the works here and while not sounding like a well honed bass/drummer do a very fine job. One has to remember the bass parts on albums like 'New Chautauqua' and 'As falls wichita...' which Pat played himself. Those were obviously not as good as a well crafted bass player but did the job within the context of the pieces. Overall critics have very positive things to say about this album. I'm sure if we get an 'Orchestrion 2' it will be even better than this one.

My only criticism of the album is that it feels too short (this is not the case though in reality it is around 54 mins) which indicates that the album is definitely engrossing.

Albums which are immediately likeable usually don't get played much ultimately (in my experience) This one though will certainly be played a lot. Sadly some fans seem to be somewhat resistant to this new device and change of Pat's, for those who decide to stay the course there are many rewards.

Highly recommended.

Pat will be touring...yet again, in the summer of 2010 with the rest of the PMG, of course after he has toured with this amazing band of electronic troubadours, the concept 'Orchestrion'. For me, the most amazing jazz composer of today has achieved a long held ambition(his words), to compose a piece for self-playing instruments. As a massive fan for many years, after the amazing 'The Way Up'(which didn't hit the spot for me initially, but quickly grew into an unrivalled compositional masterpiece)'Orchestrion', also didn't hit the spot straight off. However, after witnessing the UK leg of the tour at the Barbican, yet again the piece came to life, much more so than the album. So, I am not about to criticise my hero...there are few new albums out there to rival anything of this musical magnitude. Yes, it does lack ingredients that Pat can call upon , like the soaring vocals, replaced by muted lyrical half filled bottles that don't quite hit the spot...or Lyle's solos, Antonio's drumming etc etc
Track 2 is a Metheny classic, absolutely deep and beautiful and worth buying the album for alone. The rest, if you are a Pat fan will at the very least, keep you amused til' his next release sometime later this summer
This is an amazing album and well worth checking out...go on, catch out your friends and see if they can tell the difference between human jazz and electronic.