Pat Metheny: Unity Band – review

Pat Metheny's Unity Band is a wave to his fine album 80/81, which featured the late Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman on saxes. Their roles are merged here on a batch of new Metheny pieces by the versatile Chris Potter, accompanied by regular drummer Antonio Sanchez and gifted bass newcomer Ben Williams. The themes are typical Metheny: sensuous Latin grooves, synth-guitar fusion, folksy ballads, a good deal of jazz swing – and the rhythm section is mindboggling, not to mention beautifully recorded. Roofdogs evokes the long-running Pat Metheny Group with its horn-like guitar synth, Come and See imaginatively mingles the multi-stringed Picasso guitar and Potter's bass clarinet. Meanwhile, jamming with Williams and Sanchez on Leaving Town, Metheny's blues/funk phrasing is as fresh as any of his recorded improvisations in recent times. The torchy Then and Now showcases Potter's resonant tenor tone and upper-register ease, and Breakdealer offers a short-burst theme for everybody to solo on. It's all about the playing skills of a dazzling band, which live shows will undoubtedly ram home even harder.