Track Listing

1. Night Away
2. Sound Of Water
3. Fear And Trembling
4. Don't Wait
5. Towards The Light
6. Long Before
7. En La Tierra Que No Olvida
8. Santa Cruz Slacker
9. Secret Beach
10. Silent Movie
11. Marta's Theme

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37922 in Music
• Released on: 2007-03-12
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
The first recorded meeting of guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau, Metheny/Mehldau, was an intimate, almost chamber-like affair, albeit one with some heated improvisations. Quartet, their second meeting, finds them sounding like a stripped-down version of the Pat Metheny Group. But this is a leaner, looser band, with freewheeling support from Mehldau's trio of drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier on all but a couple of tracks. The guitarist and pianist are a good match for Metheny's dramatic and lyrical inclinations, seducing the more angular and cerebral Mehldau like teasing threads from a knot. Mehldau is a pianist of exploratory dimensions, and he gives himself free reign here. There's intimate, Jim Hall/Bill Evans-style duos like "Ring of Life" that you might expect, but also out-and-out free-form electric excursions like "Summer Day" that recall Metheny's 1980s work with Billy Higgins and Charlie Haden on Rejoicing. While maintaining a unified sound, Quartet is nevertheless an album of contrasts, as Metheny drives into his synth guitar on "Legend," tossing in a heavy-metal bridge, but also goes a bit pastoral and medieval on "Ahmid-6," strumming what sounds like a harp-guitar, although it could be his guitar-synth. With deeply empathetic playing and a broad stylistic palette, Quartet never wears thin. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

TURN THE LIGHTS DOWN AND POUR THE WINE
EXCELLENT,LOVE THIS SOUND...TAKES MY HEAD TO A DIFFERENT PLACE...FEEL WARM IN THE DARK...RECOMENDED BY ME

Nice. Pleasant. Disappointed.
Let me be clear: I am a BIG Metheny and Mehldau fan. Big. Bought this CD (MMQ) without thinking once.

Right by the CD player now-- Metheny: PAT METHENY GROUP (from 1978, and I still have the cassette I bought almost 30 years ago!), IMAGINARY DAY, NEW CHAUTAUGUA; Mehldau: DAY IS DONE, HOUSE ON HILL, PLACES; Metheny & Mehldau: Michael Brecker's PILGRIMAGE.

And this CD... it's nice... it's pleasant... it's not new age, not elevator music, not smooth jazz... my English friends would say it's lovely... but...

But it's hard to listen to. I've tried. Again and again I find my mind wandering. There's so little to grab the attention, and so the mind goes inward. Great background music for a party. I could work to it all day long.

And I'm disappointed because I thought Metheny's playing on PILGRIMAGE was just wonderful. Mehldau can thrill even in a trio. Yet MMQ? Nice...

Kirtland Peterson

The Best of Metheny
Not necessarily the best Pat Metheny CD ever but the music contained on MMQ showcases what are, for me, the most personal and satisfying apects of Metheny's playing. The tunes are melodic and the structures lend themselves readily to the Missouri magician's muse. Mehldau is a perfect foil for the older man, in the league of Mays and Hancock, and his rhythm section of Ballard and Grenadier are sympathetic and very much fit for purpose. Ballard particularly shows himself to be musicians dream; dynamic, interactive and subtle.

The material is beautifully rendered and the pace of the CD is a delight. If you like Metheny in a reasonably open blowing session, away from the structures of his work with the Pat Metheny Group, then this is for you. If you like the more conventional aspects of his playing, there if plenty of that but there is room for some of his edgier playing too ('Fear and Trembling'). The 'Metheny synth guitar' makes its appearance.

Linda Manzer's 42-string Pikasso guitar makes an appearance on 'The Sound Of Water' and it is nice to hear this radical instrument beginning to integrate itself into more conventional ensemble playing. 'Don't Wait' is a pretty ballad and both Metheny and Mehldau get to breathe deeply of its treasures. Other highlights are 'En La Terra Que No Olvida', 'Towards The Light' (the patented 'Metheny synth guitar' makes its appearance here) and a revisit to 'Marta's Theme' off 'Passagio Per Il Paradiso'.

A pleasure to listen to and getting better every time!