Metheny Mehldau: Quartet

CML call number: CD JAZZ Metheny
Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times: "On much of the second collaboration between the guitarist Pat Metheny and the pianist Brad Mehldau, time decelerates; music seems to hang in the air by an invisible string. This streamlined, weightless feeling has been rigorously worked out for more than a decade by Mr. Mehldau's trio, and here it's his gift to Mr. Metheny. Conversely Mr. Metheny's work … gave this pianist an open, pastoral-sounding harmonic vocabulary to build on in his formation as a composer and improviser. The music on 'Quartet' … keeps changing. Some tracks have tight pop surfaces; some are bumpier with swing rhythm and dissonant chords; some are piano-and-guitar duets; one, Mr. Metheny's 'Towards the Light,' has a nimbuslike atmosphere, with echo on Mr. Mehldau's piano, a long solo from Mr. Metheny's hornlike guitar-synthesizer. … Mr. Metheny can completely alter the character of someone else's chord changes. Here … the collaboration seems to have started long before the two musicians got together. … It's a strong foundation for working together" ("Critics' Choice: New CDs," 3/12/07).