Live At Estival Jazz, Lugano, July 9th 2004 (CD)

Pat Metheny is a supremely accomplished, mercurial and innovative guitarist, composer, performer, and musical educator. In a career that has spanned over fifty years, he has been the recipient of a staggering twenty Grammy Awards in Twelve different categories, including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, and Best Instrumental Composition. He frequently tops musical Polls as ‘Best Jazz Guitarist’ (although he has never been content to simply occupy the ‘Jazz’ musical category), and has also received three ‘Gold’ album awards for Still Life (Talking) (1987), Letter From Home (1989) and Secret Story (1992), confounding the notion that Jazz/ Improvisational music is rarely a commercial success. Furthermore, Metheny has always had a strong desire to take his music out to a live audience, averaging between 120- 240 shows a year since 1974. The music on this mid-price set is taken from one such performance, at the Estival Jazz, Piazza Della Riforma, Lugano, Switzerland, on July 9th 2004. It features Metheny performing both solo and with drummer Antonio Sanchez, and bass player Christian McBride. Metheny delivers a series of stellar performances, with a stylistic range and approach that is frequently breathtaking.