JazzTimes (p.89) - "[A]n occasion for the unveiling of beautiful new works by both players....The atmosphere of restraint makes the chops all the more breathtaking..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.114) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] mesmerising listen....Their music warm, intricate, entirely absorbing."
Personnel: Pat Metheny (guitar); Brad Mehldau (piano); Larry Grenadier (bass instrument); Jeff Ballard (drums).
Recording information: Right Track Studios, New York, New York (12/2005).
This collaboration between guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau echoes the 1962 minor masterpiece UNDERCURRENT, a set of improvised duets between guitarist Jim Hall and pianist Bill Evans. Like Hall and Evans, Mehldau and Metheny rarely stray too far from a standard approach, sticking mostly to post bop and ballad frameworks. But the magic of the album comes from the warm, intricate webs the two weave, especially on the quiet, meditative pieces. The pair are joined by a rhythm section on a few tracks, but for the most part, METHENY/MEHLDAU features the musicians unaccompanied, luxuriating in the delicate, sophisticated, and gorgeous interplay they share.