The press kit for Pat Metheny’s Orchestrion promises that the album “redefines solo performance,” and for once, that isn’t just gently perfumed publicist smoke being blown up your ass — it’s the God’s honest truth. Entranced by the orchestrion, a mechanical instrument array that surfaced in the late 19th century, Metheny enlisted a small army of inventors to help him bring the concept into the modern era. The result is this five-track, 52-minute collection, which finds Metheny quite literally running the show — both as the leader of the mechanical “band,” operated via solenoid switches and pneumatics, and as the master guitarist who’s ruled the jazz airwaves for the last quarter century or so.

In theory, it’s pretty amazing stuff — which is why it’s a little disappointing that, on record, Metheny’s one-man-band approach sounds an awful lot like the Pat Metheny Group. Watching him assemble these songs is an undeniable kick — take a look at the below video for proof — but melodically and rhythmically, the orchestrion inspires Metheny in disappointingly subtle ways. Unless you’re really a student of his music, you aren’t going to hear anything here that you haven’t heard from Metheny before; this is, I suppose, a testament to how seamlessly he was able to incorporate his art into such an unusual framework, but once you see all the interesting musical angles that went into its construction, you expect Orchestrion to stick a little on the way down, and its unrelenting smoothness can’t help feeling like a letdown. And yes, “Metheny” and “smooth” go hand in hand — but when you read that an album was recorded with a mechanically operated room full of instruments that includes “several pianos, drum kit, marimbas, ‘guitar-bots’, dozens of percussion instruments and even cabinets of carefully tuned bottles,” well, it’s hard not to expect something a little wild and funky. If you’re a fan, purchase Orchestrion without reservation; if you aren’t, it’s doubtful anything here will change your mind. (more…)