PAT METHENY GROUP: FIRST CIRCLE

This Metheny's record is an excellent modern urban jazz record, often relaxing, with some Latin rhythm elements. It starts with "Forward March", a childish & dissonant orchestral arrangement, rather sounding charming. The accessible "Yolanda, you learn" has very Latin rhythms, as reveals for instance the typical chant of Pedro Aznar. The jaw-dropping "First Circle" track is a very charming, grand and graceful mix of delicate acoustic guitars and percussions, followed by the typical Aznar's voice synchronized to May's melodic keyboards: this track really sounds like many ones on the next albums: "Letter from home" and "Still life"; Lyle Mays' final piano part near the end is absolutely AWESOME, as always. "If I Could" is just a beautiful mellow track made of delicate cymbals & acoustic guitars and ethereal floating keyboards. Lyle Mays plays a sublime piano solo on the rhythmic "Tell It All", which contains some percussions sounding like cans. Lyle Mays' very subtle, ambient, urban and refined keyboards on "End of the Game" sound a bit like the ones on the "Falcon & the snowman" album; Metheny plays a trumpet-like electric guitar-synth?, like he used to do on the "Offramp" album. "Mas Alla" is a relaxing song with Pedro Aznar on lead vocals; Lyle Mays still creates here ethereal ambiences with his modern keyboards, supported by delicate cymbals and guitars arrangements. The last track "Praise" is slightly different: it contains ambient organ in the background, Pedro's excellent voice and some flute-like notes in the beginning: the track is quite rhythmic and accessible.

Rating: 4.5 stars