Pat Metheny’s dalliance with solo guitar recordings involving the baritone guitar continues with an album new for the summer of 2024. MoonDial (BMG) is in some ways an extension of the prior Metheny collection, Dream Box, as the master plectrist continues chasing melodies by himself. But as personal as that 2023 release was, MoonDial opens the window into Metheny’s soul even wider, as he is using his Linda Manzer Baritone Nylon String Guitar exclusively, with zero overdubs or even loops.
That baritone guitar itself is different, and a discussion of the trade tools used is usually best left for gearheads, but it’s just too key to the aura of this album to leave out of this space.
Like for One Quiet Night — his first solo baritone guitar record — he tuned the middle two strings up an octave, counteracting the low toned sound of a typical baritone guitar. Metheny thinks about music symphonically as in a string quartet, and his guitar enables him to mimic the cello or bass sounds on the bottom two strings, the viola on the top two strings and the violin in the middle.
Still, for the kind of songs and arrangements he had on mind to play, Metheny needs more tweaking to the timbres from that baritone and he found what he was looking for with some certain custom-wound set of nylon guitar strings. Now he was ready to go, and he found enough time to duck into a studio and lay down the tracks while in the middle of a tour.
His vision for this record is a vision realized: the lead, rhythm and bass parts are all clearly definable and not necessarily because Metheny is performing fingerpicking gymnastics; those choice of strings really help to enable this guitar to act as three instruments in one. MoonDial is a mixture of fresh originals and old standards, which provides the benefit of enjoying both Metheny’s interpretive skills and his composing prowess in roughly equal measures.
Metheny’s own tunes all show various marks of his classic, signature style of songcraft. “MoonDial” has a melody that can be traced back to “So May It Secretly Begin” from Still Life (Talking) and even simulates its Brazilian sway. “LaCrosse” is a classic Metheny melody: vulnerable, buoyant, engaging but avoiding the obvious chord choices. “We Can’t See It, But It’s There” has similar qualities but with a somewhat darker hue, for which the muddier sound of the baritone guitar is well suited.
“This Belongs To You” is either a gorgeous melody, or Metheny made it seem that way because he caresses it so well. “Shõga” hearkens back to the rapturous strum-heavy rural folk that characterized numbers like “New Chautauqua” and “Two Folk Songs” from early in his career, only this time the bottom end is filled out without any outside help.
The choice of songs to cover reflect on this artist’s long-held influences and favorites from the jazz and pop realms alike. The late Chick Corea is honored with a tender rendition of “You’re Everything,” which manages to stick close to original melody and still made to sound like Metheny wrote the song instead, just from the personal feel he applies to the tune.
On the Beatles’ “Here, There and Everywhere,” Metheny performs a sleight of hand to change the key of the song midway through. Metheny strings together “Everything Happens To Me” and “Somewhere” into a single performance, able to fully deliver the lead and accompaniment parts and make it appear so simple. The traditional Irish folk tune “Londonderry Air” (“Danny Boy”) unfolds delicately and gracefully like a through-composed song in Metheny’s hands.
The sturdy jazz standard “Angel Eyes” was chosen by Metheny because of its extreme adaptability, and he was able to get that shaded, melancholy feel from the guitar simply by tuning down the lowest string even lower.
Pat Metheny has one of the longest currently running legacies in jazz, and he is still adding to it with grand statements on down to simpler, understated affairs. MoonDial is a minor entry in his catalog but even for his smaller works he invests the full brunt of his artistry and tries out something he hadn’t done on record before. That’s enough to make this latest solo guitar record so meaningful and softly gratifying.
MoonDial is now available everywhere, such as here.
*** Pat Metheny CD’s and vinyl on Amazon ***
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