The Way Up
For nearly 30 years, guitarist Pat Metheny and his longtime musical cohort, pianist/keyboardistLyle Mays, have covered an incredible amount of diverse material. On their debut recording for this label, they and their international group--bassist Steve Rodby, Mexican drummer Antonio Sanchez, Vietnamese trumpeter Coung Vu, and the Swiss-born harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret--distill that diversity into a continuous 68-minute opus. The challenge here lies in sustaining the melodic narrative thread while keeping the sound of surprise.  Thanks to Mays's evocative pianisms and Metheny's array of acoustic, electric, and synthesized guitars, the group pulls it off.  For Metheny fans this disc contains elements of his most acclaimed recordings, from the straight-ahead swing ofQuestion and Answerand the folk-fusion ofOfframp, to the Afro-Latin tinges ofWe Live Here, the atonally adventurousZero Tolerance for Silence, and the Asian impressionism ofSecret Story.--Eugene Holley, Jr.