Pat Metheny - The Unity Sessions: a fired-up tour de force

Pat Metheny has always blurred the genre lines, eliding gnarly post-Coltrane jazz with smooth Brazilian pop music, but recently the acclaimed US guitarist has also taken to blurring the lines between live and studio, and between audio and video; the material on this double CD was released last year on a performance DVD of the same name.

Recorded “as live” and on-camera, after coming off a long tour, when his hugely talented band was fired up and in total command of the material, it’s a tour de force, delving into Metheny’s mountainous back catalogue.

The band's lush, polished sound flirts with the banal, but there is also genius here, and when the solos start, well, it's Metheny, one of the most joyous and melodically inventive players in any genre. patmetheny.com