No, "Orchestrion" isn't a transformer who changes into a concert hall. This is the latest album from that monster of modern jazz, Pat Metheny. It's a pretty intense album too! Oddly enough, Pat Metheny got into jazz the same way I did. He was a huge fan of Wes Montgomery. I'm not trying to compare myself to Pat Metheny at all, I just find it a funny coincidence is all. The difference between myself and Pat Metheny is (obviously) he is awesome, and I am not.
I could try to describe Pat Metheny's style, but I honestly don't believe I'm qualified to do that. I guess to put it in a really simplified layman's way I could say that I think he's a slick mix of Bossanova with Steve Reich-ish minimalism. Did that just send a shiver up your spine? It should!
Orchestrion is one of the most representative of this mini-bossa (my own term!) style, and this is probably because Pat designed and created his own band for this album...kind of like Dr Frankenstein. If you aren't familiar with the term, "Orchestrionics" refers to instruments that play themselves, like a player piano. All the instruments backing up Pat on this album are, in fact, jazz robots. Not "Jazz" the transformer, but machines built to play the parts he wrote for them. CRRRAAAZZZZYYYY. Seeing as I love both robots and jazz...well, yeah.
This album is just so nuts you have to hear it to believe it. The music is incredible, and the execution is...well...absolutely insane!
I can't find any good videos of the songs on YouTube, so I will let Pat take it from here, and honestly, I think he's the best person to describe this anyway:
Pat describes "The Orchestrion Project":
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