The Unity Sessions

The Unity Sessions

• METHENY PAT
• THE UNITY SESSIONS ( 2CDS)
• INTERNATIONAL
• MUSIC

Nonesuch Records releases a pair of new albums from guitarist, composer, and bandleader <strong>Pat Metheny</strong> 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. <strong><em>The Unity Sessions </em></strong>is taken from a filmed performance with Pat Metheny Unity Group that was recently released on DVD; the set comprises 13 songs by Metheny, one he co-wrote with Ornette Coleman, and one well known standard by Ray Noble. And <strong><em>Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny</em></strong> joins the guitarist with a trio led by longtime Pat Metheny Group trumpeter <strong>Cuong Vu</strong>. It comprises five tunes written by Vu plus one by Metheny and one by Andrew D'Angelo. <br /><br />In 2013, for the first time since 1980, Metheny recorded with a band that highlighted tenor saxophone. The resulting <strong><em>Unity Band</em></strong>, which went on to win him his 20th Grammy Award, featured <strong>Chris Potter</strong> on sax and bass clarinet, longtime collaborator <strong>Antonio Sanchez</strong> on drums, and <strong>Ben Williams </strong>on bass. Metheny then took that same ensemble into new territory with the addition of his Orchestrion and a focus on more through-composed material and christened the ensemble <strong>Pat Metheny Unity Group</strong>. The Group's first record, <strong><em>Kin (←→) </em></strong>, was released by Nonesuch in 2014 and was named the best jazz album of the year in the <strong>DownBeatReaders Poll Awards</strong>. The Group went on a world tour of more than 150 cities; at the end, they hunkered down in a small Manhattan theater to film new performances of music from the original <em>Unity Band</em>, the expansive <em>Kin (←→)</em> , and touchstones from the entirety of Metheny's music catalog. The results were released on DVD last year as <strong><em>The Unity Sessions</em></strong>, and now Nonesuch releases the album of the same name.