From Amazon.co.uk
Pat Metheny describes his Group's 12th album as "an extended journey into a musical zone that lets you imagine your own scenario and stories, and emotions to go with them ... We really decided we'd do a record that was about extended journeys, and even try to give the whole record that feeling of a story." Metheny has worked with keyboard player Lyle Mays for over 20 years, and with Steve Rodby (bass) and Paul Wertico (drums) leads a perfectly intuitive quartet, able to move with fluid grace from luxurious jazz-rock textures to ambient soundscapes and on-the-beat tunes with consummate perfection. Metheny plays several new instruments, including a fretless classical guitar on the gamelan-inspired title track, his tasteful improvisations brilliantly interlocking with May's distinctive synthesiser sounds. Elsewhere "The Roots Of Coincidence" ventures into techno-metal, yet as Metheny says "every tune succeeds or fails by the improvisation that happens within it. To me, that more than anything else still links what we do inevitably to the word 'jazz'." With the additional of four percussionists, and a playfully encoded cover,
Imaginary Day sees the Pat Metheny Group follow-up
Quartet (1996) still revealing in the joy of making fresh, endlessly inventive and uplifting melodic music.
--Gary S. Dalkin
