Side-Eye III+

巨匠、パット・メセニーが最新作『Side-Eye III+』をリリース!
ジャズ界を牽引するメセニーが、新たなグループで全8曲のオリジナル作品を収録したアルバムを発表しました。
メンバーは、ピアノ&キーボードのクリス・フィッシュマン、ドラムのジョー・ダイソン、ベースのジャーメイン・ポール。
20回のグラミー賞受賞歴を誇るメセニーは、Green Hill Musicとの提携により、自身のレーベルを立ち上げ、アルバムとともに世界ツアーをスタートします。
収録曲には「In On It」「Don't Look Down」「Make a New World」など、すべてオリジナル楽曲。革新的なサウンドと圧倒的なアンサンブルでジャズの魅力をさらに広げます。

Side-Eye III+ is guitarist Pat Methenys first ensemble studio set since 2020s From This Place, combining his band with the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. The debut album from the evolutionary Side-Eye project released the live NYC (V1.IV), that he followed with two solo guitar offerings in Dream Box and MoonDial. This is the debut release on his Uniquity Music label in partnership with Primary Music, parent company of Green Hill. Uniquity will be the future home of all Methenys albums, from 1984s Song X with Ornette Coleman to 2026. This set, primarily recorded in Woodstock, New York, includes eight original compositions performed with keyboardist Chris Fishman, bassist Daryl Johns, and drummer Joe Dyson. In addition, he employs an additional 15 musicians and singers; they include harpist Brandee Younger, percussionist Luis Conte, and a vocal ensemble led by Take 6s Mark Kibble. The music on Side-Eye III+ is expansive and encompasses his historical past, including Bright Size Life, Offramp, Still Life (Talking), and Letter from Home, while threading new approaches and sounds into compositions of earlier work and present developments under an umbrella of possibility for the present and future, sans nostalgia. There are several long-form pieces reflecting the episodic nature of his compositional signature, while several mid-length works layer in electronics, wordless vocals, and luxuriant textural soundscapes. Opener "In On It" commences as a group cooker with piano framing the rhythm section as the guitarist weds lyric harmony and rhythmic invention until the four-minute mark, when the rhythm section, keys, synth guitar, and choir enter a sonic drift of emotional and atmospheric bliss. The 11-minute-plus "Dont Look Down" is an episodic exercise in post-bop lyricism. Fishmans piano delivers the tracks finest solo before the chorus and Conte cinematically slip in behind him, underscoring Methenys break. The ten-minute "Make a New World" juxtaposes melodic intimacy, Brazilian rhythms, and deft, resonant, harmonic interplay between the guitarist and ensemble. Suitelike, it crisscrosses blues, post-bop, and contemporary jazz. "Urban and Western" includes guest James Francies playing gospel organ over a Sunday morning choir in a lithe, swinging Americana groove. The Latin pulse that drives "Se-O" showcases Johns fingerpopping upright bass, adding flavor and foundation to the drummers as the band syncopates with interlocking phrasing while driving forward. Fishmans soulful organ solo is gritty and rhapsodic. The ten-minute "Risk and Reward" is a suite that could easily be a thematic film score; flute-like keys, piano, harp and guitar move through lyrical emanations of folk music, impressionistic modern jazz, and uplifting drama. Closer "So Far So Good" is a ballad. The lyricism in Methenys unhurried guitar playing is supported by soft cymbal work from Dyson before the band joins him and swells in a fantasia before peeling off and whispering the album to a close. The wait was worth it: Side-Eye III+ is the most holistic, tender, and joyful recording from the guitarist in more than a decade. ~ Thom Jurek