Orchestrion
Nonesuch ***

JAZZ:The orchestrion, a 19th-century curiosity, used mechanical means to play a variety of usually percussive instruments. So Pat Metheny commissioned inventors to make a modern version for piano, marimba, vibes, bells, drums, basses and the like, and composed and arranged pieces for this Heath Robinson device, over which he states themes and solos on guitar. Some orchestrations seem dense and cluttered; there is even, alas, some minimalism, though in the circumstances probably inevitable. But, generally, the device is used in a musical, un-gimmicky way, and it sounds relatively un-mechanical. Why do it? It's like climbing a mountain, a measuring of one's capabilities – and there are no inconveniently unpredictable sidemen. Here the unpredictable, part of the essence of jazz, is provided by the rapt beauty of Metheny's luminously delightful guitar solos. www.nonesuch.com