Unity Band [+digital booklet]

This is going to be up there amongst the best jazz CD's of 2012. Pat Metheny has always been an artist who has combined a catchy approach to music coupled with a degree of musical intelligence which, in my opinion, marks hims out as one of the finest jazz musicians of our time. Fans of his music will want to snap this offering up as it is pretty exceptional even for his own high standards.

In many respects this disc is a definition of where the contemporary jazz mainstream is today and features a quartet that includes saxophonist Chris Potter at his most Brecker-esque. On some tracks he picks up a soprano and a bass clarient and whilst I have heard him in more experimental form with the likes of Dave Douglas, he seems totally at home in this ensemble. As in the norm with recent Metheny discs, the drum chair is taken by the ever excellent and reliable Antonio Sanchez who lays down the solid rhythm which underpins some robust playing from Potter and Metheny. The band is rounded out by newcomer Ben Williams on bass who provides the kind of foundation you would expect from the likes of Christian McBride - a major new talent to jazz.

From the point of view of material, the record combines a good balance of offerings with "Roofdogs" being amongst my favourites. The band has quickly acquired it's own identity and with soloists of this calibre there is plenty to be getting the teeth into. In many ways, the sound recalls Michael Brecker's swanwong "Pilgrimage" albeit without a piano. However, the most fascinating track is "Signals" which features Metheny playing the orchestrion but which opens with 3 minutes of edge-of-the-seat free improvisation from the protagonists which is amongst some of the most compelling listening the guitarist has put down on record to my ears. The excitement at the resolution when the Morse code like theme comes in under Sanchez' odd-metre drum motif is electric and this track culminates in a style which is more redolent of the material played by PMG.

In many respects the names of the musicians on the album sleeve are sufficient to let you know that the music will be terrific but this disc would serve at a fantastic introduction to anyone wishing to sample how good jazz is in 2012. A Rolls Royce jazz ensemble.

If you are new to Pat Metheny, then my comments here will not be too helpful. Pat has done a lot better than this. I had hoped that a new band with Chris Potter on board would have been a stunning new direction for Pat. Chris Potter is one of the most innovative saxophone players around today. However, in this context, it is Pat Metheny's music that dominates and he has not been successful in finding the novelty he ought to be looking for. If you like Metheny and have just started enjoying his records, you should like this too.however, if you are a die-hard fan who has bought all of his records up to now, you may be disappointed by this. Ken Trethewey.

Five IMPRESSIVE Stars! Unity, indeed. Multiple Grammy-winning jazz virtuoso guitarist Pat Metheny has assembled a tight, hard-swinging quartet that sounds like its been working for a long time and he gives the group an impressive array of original compositions. "Unity Band" rides the polyrhythms of drummer Antonio Sanchez (especially "Leaving Town"), anchored by the mellow underpinnings of rising star bassist Ben Williams (great "New Year" solo), and tenor sax luminary Chris Potter who adds his soprano sax and bass clarinet to the mix. Metheny, in addition to the wide palette of his electric and acoustical guitar sounds, adds the program-based Orchestrion EPK instrumentation to the proceedings, as on "Signals (Orchestrion Sketch)".The 'best of the best' begins with the altissimo edginess of the "Roofdogs" unison-theme with hot solos by Metheny and Potter, the avant-garde approach of the tone poem "Signals" with its unusual array of sounds and effects from the Orchestrion EPK and the band, the intensely beautiful ballads "Then and Now" and "This Belongs to You", and perhaps best of all the exotic intensity of "Come and See" which has a great "Willow Weep for Me" Potter quote rising from the musical maelstrom of his solo and a sizzling Metheny improvisation. Pat Metheny is a relentless musical explorer and Unity Band is his impressive new group, producing some exceptional jazz, and it gets My Highest Recommendation. Five RIVETING Stars (This review is based on an mp3 download; 9 tracks + digital booklet, Time: 65:48)