{"id":5045,"date":"2012-09-27T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T19:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/?p=5045"},"modified":"2012-10-17T16:34:09","modified_gmt":"2012-10-17T23:34:09","slug":"methenys-unity-band-magic-at-anthology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/2012\/09\/27\/methenys-unity-band-magic-at-anthology\/","title":{"rendered":"Metheny’s Unity Band: magic at Anthology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Bush<\/a>,|sandiegoreader.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Legendary jazz guitarist\u00a0Pat Metheny<\/strong>\u00a0returned to Anthology last night, debuting his brand new group\u00a0Unity Band<\/strong>\u00a0with saxophonist\/bass clarinetist\u00a0Chris Potter<\/strong>, bassist\u00a0Ben Williams<\/strong>, and drummer\u00a0Antonio Sanchez<\/strong>\u00a0in an exhilarating set that connected past, present and future into a satisfying whole.<\/p>\n

The concert began when Metheny ascended the stage, alone with his 42-string “Pikasso-guitar.” From the very first notes, a state of reverie was achieved. Part guitar, part harp, koto, bass and auto-harp, the Eastern textures Metheny elicits from this instrument draw the listener into his dream world.<\/p>\n

The full band came one for “Come & See,” from the new\u00a0Unity Band<\/em>\u00a0record, and the guitarist ripped into an archetypal solo that showcased his uncanny ability to blend pure diatonic ideas with chromatic connective material. Williams got a feature here, lithe and grainy with personal ideas–he’s a real find.<\/p>\n

“Roof Dogs,” found Metheny’s guitar-synth and Potter’s soprano locking horns over the shrieking theme before the guitarist’s serpentine legato and Herculean held-notes led the way. Potter charted a chirping course between the towers of Liebman and Lacy –branching out with skeins of melody and screaming outbursts.<\/p>\n

Metheny led off “New Year,” on nylon string guitar, combining piquant single-notes with lush harmonies, and when Potter came in on tenor they created some of the most compelling melodies since the epochal\u00a080-81<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The ecstasy factor came swooping down with a manic reading of the Ornette Coleman gem, “Law Years,” Metheny racing in with his Roy Clark meets Pete Cosey solo, then Antonio Sanchez delivered a marvelous drum spot that veered from explosion-loud to pin-drop quiet.<\/p>\n

Metheny reprised “Folk Song # 1,” from\u00a080-81<\/em>, drawing out a screaming solo from Potter, who exploited the altissimo register of his horn to great effect–then the guitarist unveiled a scaled-down version of his\u00a0Orchestrion<\/em>\u00a0project for a dramatic, visually stunning demonstration.<\/p>\n

After a long, raucous standing ovation, Metheny returned to the stage alone, with his baritone guitar, and proceeded to trace long arcs from his extraordinary career with a spectacular, improvised medley that began with a snippet of “Phase Dance,” morphing into “Minuano,” something from “Secret Story,” and, ultimately ending on “This Is Not America.” It was a magical way to end an amazing concert.<\/p>\n

photos by Bonnie Wright<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Via sandiegoreader.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Read full Article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Bush,|sandiegoreader.com Legendary jazz guitarist\u00a0Pat Metheny\u00a0returned to Anthology last night, debuting his brand new group\u00a0Unity Band\u00a0with saxophonist\/bass clarinetist\u00a0Chris Potter, bassist\u00a0Ben Williams, and drummer\u00a0Antonio Sanchez\u00a0in an exhilarating set that connected past, present and future into a satisfying whole. The concert began when Metheny ascended the stage, alone with his 42-string “Pikasso-guitar.” From the very first notes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,863],"tags":[101,1477,754,1475,755,1478],"class_list":["post-5045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-music","category-upcoming-shows","tag-jazz","tag-pat-metheny","tag-reader","tag-robert-bush","tag-san-diego-reader","tag-unity-band"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5045"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5052,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5045\/revisions\/5052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}