The new album Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny has been reviewed on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. "The album lets you hear why the headliners get along," explains Fresh Air reviewer Kevin Whitehead: "the guitarist's approach to sound and melody and streaking long tones spoke to the trumpeter from the first." You can hear the complete review here. The Guardian gives the album four stars. "Metheny enters completely into the exploratory spirit," says Guardian's John Fordham, "and gives Vu's intriguing music a fresh dimension and creative support."

The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA) has announced its 2016–17 season, and featured among the artists performing this season are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Pat Metheny, Kronos Quartet, and The Magnetic Fields. The season also includes a dance performance set to music by Laurie Anderson and more.

Today marks the release of two new albums from guitarist, composer, and bandleader Pat Metheny on Nonesuch Records. Metheny is well-known as a musical collaborator, and both records feature friends and colleagues with whom he has worked for years. The Unity Sessions is taken from a filmed performance with Pat Metheny Unity Group that was recently released on DVD, and Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny joins the guitarist with a trio led by longtime Pat Metheny Group trumpeter Cuong Vu.

Pat Metheny has unveiled a new track, "Born," from the forthcoming Pat Metheny Unity Group album, The Unity Sessions, which is due out May 6. The song, which premiered via Jazz Times yesterday, can be heard below and is available to download now with pre-orders of the new album along with the previously released album track "This Belongs to You." Pat Metheny joins bassist Ron Carter for several East Coast performances next week.

Nonesuch releases a pair of new albums from guitarist, composer, and bandleader Pat Metheny on May 6, 2016. Metheny is well-known as a musical collaborator, and both records feature friends and colleagues with whom he has worked for years. The Unity Sessions is taken from a filmed performance with Pat Metheny Unity Group that was recently released on DVD, and Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny joins the guitarist with a trio led by longtime Pat Metheny Group trumpeter Cuong Vu. Pre-orders of each include an instant download of a track from its album.

Congratulations to Pat Metheny, who has been named the winner of the ECHO Jazz 2015 Award for International Instrumentalist of the Year, Guitar, for his album with Pat Metheny Unity Group, Kin (←→), released last year on Nonesuch Records. Metheny won an ECHO for Tap: John Zorn's Book of Angels Vol. 20 in 2014 and for Orchestrion in 2011.

Pat Metheny will be the 2015 Detroit Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence, including different music incarnations at this year's festival Labor Day Weekend—sets from the Pat Metheny Trio with Antonio Sánchez and Scott Colley and special guest Detroiter Kenny Garrett; an intimate acoustic duo with Detroiter Ron Carter; a reunion with the Gary Burton in a special quartet put together just for this festival; and a large ensemble with the Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra—as well as education and mentorship activities throughout the year.

The ECHO Jazz 2015 Award nominations have been announced by the German Recording Academy, and among the nominees are Brad Mehldau, who is up for International Instrumentalist of the Year, Piano/Keyboards, for his album with drummer Mark Guiliana, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon; Pat Metheny for International Instrumentalist of the Year, Guitar, and Pat Metheny Unity Group for International Ensemble of the Year for Kin (←→); and Joshua Redman for International Instrumentalist of the Year, Saxophone/Woodwinds, for Trios Live. 

Pat Metheny Unity Group closes out a year-long, worldwide tour with a month-long North American tour featuring music from their debut album, Kin (←→). Metheny and the band kick off the final leg of the tour in Canada at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre in Ontario, followed by stops in Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec; head to the States for shows in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; make a quick trip to Mexico for the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival in Mexico; then return to the States for a culminating, week-long residency at the Blue Note in New York City.

The results of the 79th Annual DownBeat Readers Poll have been announced, and topping the list for Jazz Album of the Year is Pat Metheny Unity Group's debut album, Kin (←→). The Pat Metheny Unity Group was also voted top Jazz Group, Metheny is top of the Guitar category, and band member Chris Potter is the winner of the Tenor Saxophone category. “This year’s poll is especially satisfying,” said Frank Alkyer, DownBeat’s publisher, who lauds the winners for continuing "to make ambitious, beautiful artistic statements." The Pat Metheny Unity Group resumes its North American tour November 11. 

Pat Metheny Unity Group launches a tour of Asia at the Sejong Center in Seoul on Sunday. The band then heads to Japan for a three-night run at Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo and stops in Osaka, Nagoya, and Kobe, and to China for a headline set at the JZ Music Festival in Shanghai. The Unity Group then begins a four-city tour of Australia, with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Canberra, culminating at the Sydney Opera House. From there, it’s up to Singapore for a show at the Esplanade Concert Hall. The band kicks off the next leg of its North American tour in November.

Pat Metheny Unity Group has announced a tour of Asia and Australia for this October, featuring music from its debut album, Kin (←→). The tour begins in Seoul, South Korea, on October 5, then heads to Japan for stops in Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, and three nights in Tokyo; followed by Australia, with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, and the Sydney Opera House; and comes to a close in Singapore on October 27. Metheny talks about the tour on ABC Jazz's Talking Jazz this Friday. The Unity Group is currently in the midst of a US tour with special guest Bruce Hornsby.