Pat Metheny has been waited in Estonia for a long time and when he finally came, the concert hall was full. It was a gorgeous and fascinating finish to Jazzkaar 25!
He started with gentle solo bossa-flavored piece. The excited public had a chance to relax before the band appeared on stage. Next piece was also solo, but showed that Metheny is equally good as a one-man band. The instrument he played was a modified guitar with two necks and a small harp. It is unbelievable how easily he played such a difficult instrument. As easy listening as beautiful was the piece itself.
Come and see happened to be the first song of the program performed with a band. Ben Williams and Antonio Sanchez held the groove that was already a masterpiece without any soloists. Adding such amazing musicians as Metheny and Chris Potter, we have an absolutely splendid collective.
They continued with Roof dogs. Chris Potter picked soprano saxophone and its timbre made the main theme more interesting. Pat Metheny impressed the audience with epic virtuous solo.
Sometimes it was hard to understand where one solo ended and another begun – so good were musicians at building melodies based on main theme. Every solo sounded more like an independent part of a composition. Furthermore, Police people had very short main theme and consisted mostly of drum solo played by Antonio Sanchez.
After Giulio Carmassi entered the stage, magical things started to happen. Marimba that was placed on the stage from the very beginning started to play itself. Enormous boxes on stage happened to be cabinets with shelves full of bottles. The bottles had different sizes and different amount of liquid inside. And that is not only a decoration, but tempered music instrument controlled from distance!
Chris Potter once took the guitar and played flamenco with Pat Metheny while Antonio Sanchez took the cajon. In another piece Giulio Carmassi changed piano for trumpet. Ben Williams mostly played double bass, except for one solo when he picked fret-less bass. Meanwhile Metheny changed guitar almost every time before a new tune and even during some songs.
In the end of the performance (which lasted about 2 and a half hours) Metheny played a duo with every member of a band. They played a lot of old, well known material. The audience was exulted and generously supported musicians.
The music was touching and groovy, musicians were full of passion and energy to share with public and all in all it was the most exciting concert of 25th Jazzkaar.
Pat Metheny Unity Group
April 27 at Nokia Concert Hall
Pat Metheny – guitars, electronics
Chris Potter – saxophones
Ben Williams – double bass/bass guitar
Giulio Carmassi – piano, elecronics
Antonio Sanchez – drums