Pat Metheny' New ORCHESTRION - Album, Tour and New Video

MUSIC NEWS - Grammy Award-winner (17 times !) Pat Metheny dives into new new territory with his new project, Orchestrion and news of album’s January 26 release (via Nonesuch Records; out March 9 on vinyl) and extensive North American solo tour from the genre-shattering guitarist/composer (full itineray below).

Orchestrion is said to bring a musical idea from the late 19th and early 20th centuries—a large mechanical multi-instrument device that utilizes actual orchestral instruments of various types, called an “orchestrion”—to the technologies of today. Metheny’s concept includes a large ensemble of acoustic instruments—including several pianos, drum kit, marimbas, “guitar-bots,” dozens of percussion instruments and even cabinets of carefully tuned bottles. With Metheny’s guitar and compositional mind, five new original pieces showcase the instruments as they are struck, plucked, and played via the technology of solenoid switches and pneumatics. Metheny was at work for months with a brilliant team of scientists and engineers to develop and assemble the “New Orchestrion” for this project.

“As the instruments started to trickle in from the various inventors,” Metheny says, “the experience of writing for them and figuring out what might be possible with them provided a self-imposed challenge that proved to be difficult and time-consuming, but absolutely exhilarating. I am excited to share this project. If nothing else, this has turned out to be something unique. And in the process of developing all this music and these instruments and discovering what they can do and what they are good at, I learned so much. It feels like progress and has gotten some notes out of me that I didn’t know were there. But the surprise was just how far I was able to go with it all. Within this new environment, I found something in there that took me to some new places.”

Over the last three decades, guitarist Pat Metheny has set himself apart from the jazz mainstream, by challanging, expanding and blurring boundaries and musical styles. His record-setting catalog of music has brought him seventeen well deserved Grammys in a mind bogging twelve separate categories; a series of influential trio recordings; award winning solo albums; scores for hit Hollywood motion pictures; and collaborations and duets with major artists such as Ornette Coleman, Steve Reich, Charlie Haden, Brad Mehldau, and several others. The legendary Pat Metheny Group, founded in 1977, is the only ensemble in history to win Grammys for seven consecutive releases.

For more on Orchestrion, view Metheny's 7 minute video for his demos and explanations, here. In the film, Pat Metheny walks us through the ORCHESTRION experience, explaining its origins and performing music from the adventurous “solo” recording that joins the composer-guitarist with a phalanx of remarkable, custom-made instruments, played via solenoid switches and pneumatics.

Pat Metheny Orchestrion Live Performances, Spring 2010-

April

6    Morgantown, WV    Creative Arts Center
7 Chapel Hill, NC UNC Chapel Hill
8   Atlanta, GA   Ferst Center for the Arts
9    Clearwater, FL    Ruth Echerd Hall
10  Miami, FL Fillmore
11 Gainesville, FL   Phillips Center
13 Grand Prairie, TX Nokia Theatre
14  Austin, TX    Paramount Theatre
16 Santa Fe, NM   Lensic Performing Arts Center
17 Mesa, AZ   Mesa Arts Center
18  Tucson, AZ Fox Tucson Theatre
19  Los Angeles, CA Disney Concert Hall
20 Santa Barbara, CA Campbell Hall UCSB
21 San Diego, CA   Spreckels Theatre
23 Reno, NV Grand Sierra Resort Theatre
24 San Francisco, CA    Zellerbach Hall
25 Napa, CA Napa Valley Opera House
26  Santa Cruz, CA   Civic Auditorium
28 Portland, OR    Alladin Theater
29 Olympia, WA Washington Center for the Performing Arts
30  Seattle, WA   Meany Hall

May

1   Vancouver, BC    Centre for Performing Arts
2 Eugene, OR    Silva Concert Hall
4   Salt Lake City, UT   Kingsbury Hall
5 Denver, CO    Paramount Theater
7 Kansas City, MO   Uptown Theater
8   St. Louis, MO Touhill Performing Arts Center
9 St. Paul, MN    Fitzgerald Theater
10  Chicago, IL   Orchestra Hall
12 Cincinnati, OH    Taft Theater
13  Toronto, ON Massey Hall
14 Detroit, MI    Music Hall
15 Lorain, OH The Palace
16  Poughkeepsie, NY    Bardavon Theatre
18  Philadelphia, PA   Keswick Theatre
19 Bethesda, MD    Music Center at Strathmore
20  Boston, MA Orpheum
21 & 22    NYC, NY Town Hall