I’m inclined to believe that anyone even just vaguely familiar with the fusion area of jazz has heard of Pat Metheny. Practically one of the legends of the genre, there’s nothing I could really say here to aptly summarize Metheny’s nearly five-decade career, nor add. It’s pretty obvious that in such cases there’s no critique to pass, or rather, no relevant critique.
Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV) is the title of Metheny’s latest work and it’s a live album. I’ll start out by raving a little about the production. It’s absolutely stellar. Jazz is generally renowned for spectacular production value and one of the greats being on display here also adheres properly to that. There’s nothing to poke at, the percussion is warm and perfectly articulated, the leads are smooth and present, while the low-end backbone is supporting everything neatly. It’s simply ear candy.
As for the music itself, it’s fairly easy going if you’re not paying attention. The laid back tonal qualities will leave the impression of a lounge type record. Quite the contrary, it’s definitely a record you need to actively listen to as it’s packed with tons of details and nuance. It’s a lot of fun to listen to and it’s really easy on the ears so you’ll be surprised to see that it’s suddenly midnight and all you did was press play like a hypnotized drone. I’m not saying this is exactly what happened to me, but I’m also not not saying that it happened.
