PAT METHENY GROUP: IMAGINARY DAY

PAT METHENY is one of the most commercially successful jazz artists on the planet. This is surprising because of all the jazz I have heard, nobody else comes so close to capturing the progressive spirit as does Metheny. I suppose many of his fans don't know this...they just like his "cool" sound.

As more of a rigid symphonic and folk fan, I have never been totally taken with Metheny and his group, but I have always appreciated and even enjoyed many of the snippets I have heard. All his guitar work shines, with his synthesizer guitar imparting a compelling mid western and far eastern amalgam. I wish I could be so enthused by some of the high pitched synthesizers or nattering wind instruments, and I wish the disk could hold my attention long enough to get to the core of what he and his merry men are trying to say. But maybe that isn't the point.

For me this is background music, but I know it isn't supposed to be, and I don't mean to be harsh or dismissive. On the title cut, "Follow Me" and "Into the Dream", the background suffuses me with comfort like a hot water bottle on an easy chair. The closer "Awakening" channels Lyle Mays stunning piano and Metheny's steady strumming through an elegantly orchestrated arrangement. In between, there is much to like or meditate to. I just wish I could decide which I prefer and go with it.

Perhaps it is Pat Metheny's hold on the imagination through which he finds greatest kinship with progressive artists and fans alike. Any day can be a Pat Metheny day, but not every day should be..