Pat Metheny

From This Place

Nonesuch

Guitarist/composer Pat Metheny is 65. I just learned that he’s the only recording artist in history to have earned a Grammy in 10 different categories. The cover art on his latest album, From This Place, might remind you of The Wizard of Oz, which could be intentional. Metheny and his quartet enlisted the Hollywood Studio Symphony to play along for 10 tracks that evoke aspects of America and American cinema. The first track, “America Undefined,” feels like a transcontinental train ride, while “Sixty-Six” conjures up the hypnotic swish of tires on a highway. “Everything Explained” makes you think of driving into a big city, and “The Past in Us” sounds like Toots Thielemans dropped in from the Great Beyond to sit in.

– Bruce Collier