Our received notions of Pat Metheny is that there is not one, but two Pat Methenys. There’s the Pat Metheny that loves jamming, be it on his memorable 80/81, or with his trio on albums such as Trio 99 > 00,Trio > Live and Pat Metheny Dave Holland Roy Haynes, and there’s the Pat Metheny formerly of the Pat Metheny Group and now custodian of its sound, as on 2020’s From This Place. Having set the bar incredibly high with the latter album (and more recently with Road to the Sun), an album of acclaimed classical compositions and arrangements, his current project/band Side Eye features young musicians making waves on the current NYC jazz scene.

Turning to Blue Note signing James Francies, a pianist and keyboard player who already has two albums out on the label, and drummer Marcus Gilmore (replacing Nate Smith), he seems to be working towards a closer rapprochement of his two selves on the album opener and key track, ‘It Starts When We Disappear’. It may not be as long as PMG’s album-length ‘The Way Up’, but is nevertheless largely through composed, its steadily evolving tableau of musical events moving through changing textures, tempo changes and dynamics that maintain the “trip-factor’ of the PMG productions. Lasting 13':47", Metheny said he used a certain amount of orchestrion devices that suggest a larger ensemble, and it’s worth the price of the album alone. Having got off to a flying start, the remainder of the album, with the exception of ‘Zenith Blue’, is a little more prosaic, going retro in Larry Young-esque organ trio mode. It’s well played of course, with ‘Lodger’ one for guitar axe fans with its power chords and rock infused solo that moves to a heroic climax. These tracks feature Metheny the jammer, but it is the album opener and that closer, ‘Zenith Blue’, that remain in the memory.