, now 43, has collaborated with artists ranging from Ornette Coleman to David Bowie, while a new single, Across The Sky, due for release on June 15, has been remixed by drum'n'bass guru Goldie. But although Metheny's records sound great and sell well - turnover of his latest, Imaginary Day, currently stands at about 400,00 copies worldwide - it is in concert that he fully emerges as the rounded performer that he is.
On the first of three nights at Shepherds Bush Empire, Metheny arrived alone on a stage stacked from back to front with musical hardware. Dressed in the same horizontally striped T-shirt and faded blue jeans he has been wearing for the past decade at least, his face framed by an equally familiar shock of frizzy brown hair, he began with Into the Dream, a delicately sketched melody bolstered by sitar-like drones picked out on a bewilderingly configured 42-string Pikasso guitar.
Joined by his group, he struck out with Have You Heard, a number which neatly distilled the classic elements of his sound: a nimble rhythm with a subtly Brazilian feel, a sophisticated melody picked out in part by the wordless vocalese of Mark Ledford and Philip Hamilton, and long stretch of fast, fluent soloing by Metheny executed in a liquid tone that contained the incredible strength of his technique in a firm but gentle embrace.
From there, the group stretched out in a variety of directions, playing all but one of the tracks from Imaginary Day, together with old favourites including First Circle, in which pianist Lyle Mays ventured some especially forceful contributions, and Third Wind, which prompted a sensational dialogue between drummer Paul Wertico and percussionist Jeff Haynes, a sequence dominated by the latter's explosive outbursts on the timbales.
But it was the sheer zest of Metheny's performance, as well as his perfectionist zeal, that shone through.
Whether picking out a simple sequence of harmonics on the delightful pop melody of Follow Me, or negotiating the more challenging neo-classical acoustic guitar piece, September 15th, or even just introducing the long-standing members of his group, Metheny's unforced enthusiasm for the task in hand was contagious. Neither jazz nor rock, this was simply great instrumental music, immaculately performed.
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| Have You Heard?
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| Roots Of Coincidence
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| Third Wind
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| Minuano (Six Eight) 1
Full-screen size copy
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| Minuano (Six Eight) 2
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| Are You Going With Me? 1
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| Are You Going With Me? 2
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Photographs İFred Taylor LRPS
(Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society)
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