Pat Metheny
Orchestrion

I was little more than a child when I first saw the hand crank organ in a square in Paris. A curious instrument. The music is already composed, on scores that are nothing but a roll with protrusions. The old man simply has to change the roll and turn the crank at the right rhythm. Basically a human music box.

"Orchestrion" is Pat Metheny's latest madness. He has a real invisible band at his disposal. Gary Burton is not behind the vibraphone. No Mays behind the piano, and the percussion? It plays by itself.

Pat has a real inhuman bandwagon of old school classical instruments but operated through a cold, sterilized, electronic management.

Indeed, there is no one turning the crank. Oh well, there must be a program behind it, a pretty big one, to be honest. Imagine the programming work behind it.

The structure is complex, no doubt, but the only one who puts his flesh and soul, literally, on the line, is Pat. It seems that this ensemble of instruments is directly guided by our guitarist, who has always been a lover of technological innovations (see the synth).

Pat surrounds himself with these instruments that perform their duty without craving for protagonism or heroic outbursts, finesse, wit of the case unless those already provided by himself.

With unpredictability removed, an immense space remains for Pat, who thus has at his disposal a frame managed at 360 degrees, on which he plays with his usual mastery.

If the global sound loses personality, there is still that harmonic, subdued, and whispered charm, cleaned of any imperfection, like a music box that probably doesn't even fear humidity and repeats the required performance like a perfect automaton.

The choices: courageous, challenging, oblique, absurd. The spaces, unlimited as always. Where is the real revolution? Around these instruments, a play of light will accompany the sounds.

By default, a work full of contrasts will emerge: modern and ancient, dark and convoluted.

Undoubtedly curious, different. Let's call it dj-jazz, or simply "Orchestrion".

And now let's come to the judgment. There's already a lot of material on the internet, and after a superficial listening, no step forward is perceived. Musically we are at a standstill, as still as can be.

It even seems like a step back. There are some sounds that appear to be extracted from "The Way up," and others from the tired late fusion like "Imaginary day" (which wasn't a great thing, to be honest).

If our hero focused on the "frame," he certainly put creative outbursts to rest, at least for the moment.

I don't want to be harsh, but even as a big fan of Pat, which I am, I believe that the whole thing will not have the substance of an unforgettable passage in the history of contemporary jazz.

Yet Pat had presented the thing with great enthusiasm, talking about revolution (yes, sure, in form), but what matters is not the mere live performance, which I certainly won't miss (surely impeccably handled), but the substance, that of the contemplation of music, at home, sitting and anticipating the intensity of the passages, the research, the mix, the transport, the historical value.

All of this has a magical flavor, but something, unfortunately, feels out of place.