Pat Metheny
Tap: The Book of Angels: Vol 20
Nonesuch/Tzadik **** RECOMMENDED
There’s going to a lot of interest in this album on the avant jazz circuit, mainly as it acts as a prelude to the Zorn@60 festival touring activity this spring and summer, ahead of John Zorn’s birthday in September. For Metheny Tap is the third in a trilogy of out-there albums, not as shocking as Song X or his collaboration with the late Derek Bailey were but that’s not really the point. It would be more of a sensation in a way if blazing controversy was the only point. A duo album, drummer Antonio Sanchez is Metheny’s foil although it’s a subsidiary role this time apart from on the final improv-heavy track as the guitarist has typically come fully equipped with numerous guitars, sitar, tiples, bass, keyboards, orchestrionics, electronics, and much more, and plays expansively.
The musical ideas of Zorn Metheny is performing date back to the 1990s and these half dozen songs based on traditional Jewish music are but a small fraction of the 300 songs belonging to the second of what Zorn calls the “Masada Book”. Where Zorn ends and Metheny begins can be traced fairly easily to ‘Tharsis’, the third track, which starts with the atmosphere of a village dance and then with a deep synth guitar crunch Metheny, well, is just unmistakeably Metheny, with the lovely minimalist overdubs his trusty companion. It’s a fairly hi-tech record that nonetheless retains its humanity, although with a certain mystical apparatus attached, archangels or no. ‘Mastema’ at the beginning has the most driving jazz-rock intensity, while ‘Sariel’ is the most “middle Eastern” in a way although it twists and turns into a kind of road movie, swapping sensuality for a rickety momentum that is both appealing and different. ‘Phanuel’ becomes a love song by the end, as the curtain of disembodied voices and altered rhythmic emphasis reduce the overall effect to an evocative essence. Tap has some gorgeous moments, and Metheny is simply marvellous, negotiating the complexities of the writing with consummate artistry. As an early birthday present to Zorn what could be better?
Released on 20 May
Pat Metheny, above
Tune into Jazz on 3 tonight on BBC Radio 3 for the first UK airplay of ‘Mastema’