New Chautauqua (1979)

"The guitarist's third release for ECM records was his first true solo recording in that he played all the guitars and basses on the set. It's very sparse, spacious, and quietly contemplative. Produced by Manfred Eicher, "New Chautauqua" was, at the time, far more indicative of ECM's sound than it was the guitarist's. But reconsidering the album upon its re-release in 2008, it sounds more an extension of Metheny's complex, wide-ranging musical personality than anything else. His great debt to guitarists from Jim Hall to Pat Martino on the title cut and on "Daybreak", is balanced only by his impressionistic melodic sensibility that is informed as much by Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre ("Long Ago Child/Fallen Star") and latter day-Beatles ("Hermitage") as it is by his mentor, Gary Burton ("Sueno con Mexico"). This is a very gentle and contemplative recording: there is só much happening in the weave of six-, 12- and 15-string harp guitars and basses. Skeletal, yet utterly beautiful." (Thom Jurek, Allmusic)

Aanwezigheid