Pat Metheny

His current trio with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Antonio Sanchez toured the globe prior to this one day in the studio (hence the title), and it shows. Their easy communication and collective swing suffuse this new set of immediately engaging compositions, nicely balancing between mid-tempo boppers and slow burners. Metheny's mellifluous tone and rapid-fire improv logic are on full display. On "Is This America?" Pat pulls out his acoustic guitar for greater elegiac effect; his potent answer comes in the following "When We Were Free." The album could end right there and be perfect.

Guitarist Pat Metheny doesn't make enough records in a trio setting. And the few so far
have been short-term stands: the perfectly titled Bright Size Life (1976), with bassist Jaco
Pastorius and drummer Bob Moses; later dates with major elders like bassists Charlie Haden
and Dave Holland and drummer Roy Haynes; Metheny's 2000 band with Bill Stewart and
Larry Grenadier. Day Trip is Metheny's first record with bassist Christian McBride... More >