Even without a full band of collaborative musicians and their instruments to embellish and expand upon his sound, Pat Metheny manages to captivate and enthrall, as demonstrated by this album of pensive and poignant electric guitar instrumentals.
Standout tracks include the classic jazz tune, “Never Was Love,” which has an infectious rhythmic groove thanks to Metheny’s buoyant solo over his energetic backing chords, and the Brazilian-flavored “Morning of the Carnival,” from the Black Orpheus soundtrack.
I am especially familiar with the latter because Police guitarist Andy Summers played it as part of his suite of selections from the film during his early 2020s one-man multimedia tour.
The song has its own recognizable compositional structure, but both guitarists definitely put their signature stamps on the tune. Metheny’s version is uniquely and unmistakably his.
Speaking of Summers, I’ve seen a photo online, perhaps on Metheny’s website, of Summers and Metheny playing acoustic guitars together in a house or hotel sometime in the early 1980s.
That photo and both Summers’ and Metheny’s individual takes on “Morning of the Carnival” compel me to suggest that the two should record at least one album of guitar duets, either electric or acoustic or both.
That would be a guitar lover’s dream.
Summers isn’t getting any younger. Make it happen, Pat!
