Pat Metheny told the approximately 1,500 people in Detroit’s Orchestra Hall on Sunday, October 17, that they were risking their lives by attending the concert. After striking that gloomy note, the iconic guitarist, keyboardist James Francies, drummer Joe Dyson and a scaled down version of Metheny’s robotic Orchestrion performed 130 minutes of incandescently optimistic music.
The dynamic recital presented by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra covered a satisfying portion of the vast expanse of the Lee’s Summit native’s career. In addition to grandiose fusion and straight-ahead jazz, the concert touched on pastoral folk, chamber music and honky-tonk harmolodics.
Most of the repertoire was familiar to Metheny fans, but the trio played classic compositions in bold new ways. The physically imposing Francies stole the show. Wearing a t-shirt aptly emblazoned with the album cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, Francies showed why he’s hailed as one of the leading lights of contemporary improvised music.
Francies flouted the protocols of organ jazz on a couple straight-ahead selections and staggered unsuspecting members of the audience with the sounds of tomorrow on Metheny’s electronica-laced compositions. Conversely, the unflappable Dyson evoked the tried-and-true style associated with Jimmy Cobb.
Never an ostentatious guitarist, Metheny’s playing is more elegant than ever. Watching him lead a groundbreaking group at this stage of his career is as enlightening as it is inspiring. The Lee’s Summit native’s enduring brilliance makes his nearly decade-long embargo of Kansas City all the more painful. No performance is worth dying for, but Sunday’s concert in Detroit came close.