Audiophile Audition: Pat Metheny "Lets the Creative Spirit Loose" on "One Quiet Night"; Four Stars

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Pat Metheny settled into his home studio in New York City with a new baritone guitar one November evening in 2001 to experiment with a low "Nashville tuning." The result is the Grammy-winning One Quiet Night, now reissued on Nonesuch. Audiophile Audition gives the album four stars, describing it as "an intimate performance featuring Metheny's baritone guitar and his imagination ... a confidential, quiet affair, exemplified by the title track, which follows an unadorned template: extemporizing on a single melody and sustaining a solitary mood, in this case a lightly rural and rustic feeling."

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Pat Metheny settled into his home studio in New York City with a new baritone guitar one November evening in 2001 to experiment with a low "Nashville tuning." The result is One Quiet Night, a no-overdubs solo set of originals and from-the-heart covers that earned Metheny a Grammy in 2003 and has now been reissued on Nonesuch, with an additional bonus track, "In All We See," written by Metheny. Audiophile Audition gives the album four stars, describing it as "an intimate performance featuring Metheny's baritone guitar and his imagination."

Reviewer Doug Simpson notes that One Quiet Night is, aptly, "a confidential, quiet affair, exemplified by the title track, which follows an unadorned template: extemporizing on a single melody and sustaining a solitary mood, in this case a lightly rural and rustic feeling."

Additionally, Simpson goes on to cite Metheny's interpretations of songs by others writers on the album, including the "late-night, after-hours radiance" of the Jesse Harris-penned Norah Jones tune "Don't Know Why" and Metheny's "heartfelt and inspired translation" of Keith Jarrett's "My Song," "a considerate, emotive experience." He calls particular attention to the "remarkably poignant reading" of Gerry and the Pacemakers' "Ferry Cross the Mersey" as an album highlight, a song the guitarist has "readjusted into a thing of elegance, delicacy, and affection by carefully employing the complete application of a specific instrument to its broadest scope."

The review concludes by calling the album "an admirable representation of when an artist trusts his inner voice and lets the creative spirit loose."

Read the complete review at audaud.com.

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Pat Metheny, "One Quiet Night" [cover]
  • Wednesday, June 17, 2009
    Audiophile Audition: Pat Metheny "Lets the Creative Spirit Loose" on "One Quiet Night"; Four Stars

    Pat Metheny settled into his home studio in New York City with a new baritone guitar one November evening in 2001 to experiment with a low "Nashville tuning." The result is One Quiet Night, a no-overdubs solo set of originals and from-the-heart covers that earned Metheny a Grammy in 2003 and has now been reissued on Nonesuch, with an additional bonus track, "In All We See," written by Metheny. Audiophile Audition gives the album four stars, describing it as "an intimate performance featuring Metheny's baritone guitar and his imagination."

    Reviewer Doug Simpson notes that One Quiet Night is, aptly, "a confidential, quiet affair, exemplified by the title track, which follows an unadorned template: extemporizing on a single melody and sustaining a solitary mood, in this case a lightly rural and rustic feeling."

    Additionally, Simpson goes on to cite Metheny's interpretations of songs by others writers on the album, including the "late-night, after-hours radiance" of the Jesse Harris-penned Norah Jones tune "Don't Know Why" and Metheny's "heartfelt and inspired translation" of Keith Jarrett's "My Song," "a considerate, emotive experience." He calls particular attention to the "remarkably poignant reading" of Gerry and the Pacemakers' "Ferry Cross the Mersey" as an album highlight, a song the guitarist has "readjusted into a thing of elegance, delicacy, and affection by carefully employing the complete application of a specific instrument to its broadest scope."

    The review concludes by calling the album "an admirable representation of when an artist trusts his inner voice and lets the creative spirit loose."

    Read the complete review at audaud.com.

    Journal Articles:Reviews

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