Pat Metheny and formidable new jazz band make old tunes sound fresh
Hong Kong audience listen attentively to guitar great’s new material for his recently formed quartet - who earn their spurs in duets with leader - but respond with most warmth to older numbers
Some 14 years after his last appearance in Hong Kong, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny was welcomed back by an enthusiastic crowd which responded with particular warmth to some of the older tunes, but also listened attentively to new material composed specifically for the three other musicians in his new quartet.
The band has played only a few dates together so far, the tour having begun last month in Japan, and they bring a fresh perspective to Metheny’s music. Some of the pieces in the set dated back to the late 1970s, but all sounded newly minted.
The leader opened the show on his own, acoustically, playing a custom-built harp guitar by luthier Linda Manzer, then switching to his regular, hollow-bodied electric guitar when the band came on for the second number.
Drummer Antonio Sanchez is a long-time musical associate, but bassist Linda Oh - doubling on acoustic upright bass and electric bass guitar – and pianist Gwilym Simcock, who is one of Britain’s finest jazz and classical pianists, are new sparring partners.
They played two sets of about an hour and a quarter each, separated by a short interval. James – a tune from Metheny’s 1984 Offramp album and one of his most often covered compositions – marked a high point of the first set.