Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Mitchel Forman, Will Lee, Peter Erskine: Reunion

Jazz / Modern Jazz
premiera polska: 17.11.2021
opakowanie: Jewelcase

Editor's Info:
Reunion is a 1989 album by Gary Burton, reuniting him with guitarist Pat Metheny for their first recordings in almost 13 years. Both have been called prodigies. Burton joined George Shearing's group in 1963 at the age of 19. He met Metheny at the Wichita Jazz Festival in 1973 when Metheny was 18 years old. After welcoming him as a teaching colleague at the Berklee College of Music, he hired Metheny for the newly expanded Gary Burton Quintet in 1974.

Metheny left Burton's group in 1977 to form his own quartet with Lyle Mays. The two had virtually no contact with each other until, in early 1988, the organizers of the Montreal Jazz Festival contacted Burton. They told him that Metheny was the festival host and invited Burton to join him onstage. "My apprehension was immediately erased when I saw how easy it was for us to play together, even after 12 years," said Burton. This led to their collaboration on Reunion.

Jazz Journal:
Jazzmen are so unpredictable. Writing on the sleeve of his 1988 Times Like These album. Burton said ‘I still don’t feel that I’m going to work with guitarists any­time soon’. Yet within 12 months or so, he has taken up with his old sideman Pat Metheny after a break of 12 years.
Buoyant and Latinate, this set contrasts significantly with ear­lier Burton/Metheny liaisons. Bur­ton, reticent as ever about his writing abilities, has employed five composers across 11 tracks (including the excellent Vince Mendoza), but there is no lack of cohesion. Everything is beauti­fully executed, and Burton and Metheny take a host of solos.
The latter’s recent group albums have demonstrated a wholesale return to extended soloing, and it can only be a matter of time before Metheny follows fellow fusioneers Benson, Ritenour and Carlton and cuts a collection of smoking standards. He might even go so far as to retire the charmless guitar synth heard on Panama. Standards would also be eminently preferable to the three pallid Metheny charts here.
The rhythm section cruise like a finely tuned engine. It’s espe­cially interesting to hear Will Lee in such an elegant setting, and likewise Mitch Forman, who has rarely been heard to play with such grace. His string synth appears to supply the superb piz­zicato effect at the close of Autumn‘s theme.
Minor reservations aside, this is a Burton that’s well worth going for.
by Mark Gilbert

muzycy:
Gary Burton – vibraphone, marimba
Pat Metheny – guitar
Mitchel Forman – piano, keyboards
Will Lee – bass guitar
Peter Erskine – drums, percussion

utwory:
Autumn
Reunion
Origin
Will You Say You Will
House On The Hill
Panama
Chairs And Chil­dren
Wasn’t Always Easy
The Chief
Tempos Felice (Happy Times)
Quick And Running

wydano: 2018-11-09
Ediciones Folio