Rejoicing cover
Released

Leading a trio that includes bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins, Pat Metheny delivers a strange but beautiful program that includes several Ornette Coleman tunes (notably the trippingly beautiful title track) as well as “The Calling,” an extended improvised skronk-fest that comes as a truly startling departure from the otherwise relatively straight-ahead proceedings. On more accessible fare like “Humpty Dumpty” and Haden’s composition “Blues for Pat,” Metheny employs his usual rich and soft-edged tone, but on “The Calling” he taps into his effects and produces a bright, trumpet-like tone before the sound collapses into complete chaos. The overall effect is an album that is alternately gorgeous and exhausting — and I mean that in a good way.

Rick Anderson

Recommended by

Suggestions
Inception cover

Inception

Simon Moullier
Pathways cover

Pathways

Yoko Miwa
Breath By Breath cover

Breath By Breath

Fred Hersch, Jochen Rückert, Crosby Street String Quartet, Drew Gress
Into the Silence cover

Into the Silence

Avishai Cohen
Lost Within You cover

Lost Within You

Franco Ambrosetti
Lotus Blossom cover

Lotus Blossom

Andrea Brachfeld
My Faith My Life  cover

My Faith My Life

David Friesen
Grand Slam: Live at the Regattabar, Cambridge Massachusetts cover

Grand Slam: Live at the Regattabar, Cambridge Massachusetts

Joe Lovano, Lewis Nash, George Mraz, Jim Hall