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Artist: Pat Metheny
Album: Side-Eye III+
Genre: Fusion, Post-Bop, Contemporary Jazz
Label: Primary Wave/Uniquity Music
Released: 2026
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Tracklist:
1. In On It 7:56
2. Don't Look Down 11:16
3. Make a New World 10:05
4. Urban and Western 7:23
5. Our Old Street 5:23
6. SE-O 6:51
7. Risk and Reward 9:59
8. So Far, So Good 5:46
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Right from the first bar of “In On It” it’s clear we’re listening to Pat Metheny, and an album with clear affinities to the Pat Metheny Group. No wonder it’s the opening track and was chosen as the first single from the album. That sound, it’s unmistakable: the soaring guitar lyricism, the sense of joy, the jazz/rock/Brazilian flavours, and nearly always lots going on: especially on this album, which features a trio augmented (hence the plus sign) by fifteen additional musicians.
It’s the second recording of Metheny’s Side-Eye, a project designed to showcase an evolving selection of new jazz talent. The first was 2021’s live recording Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV) featuring Metheny with James Francies on keyboards and Marcus Gilmore on drums: a performance that sounded like far more than a trio, thanks in part to Metheny’s “Orchestrion” technology (where he uses his guitar to trigger other instruments) and the uncanny ability of Francies to play authentic sounding bass lines while simultaneously playing piano, Hammond organ or synths.
This time round it’s a studio recording and the trio is Metheny with Chris Fishman on keyboards and Joe Dyson on drums – plus Daryl Johns (bass), Brandee Younger (harp), Luis Conte (percussion), and a vocal ensemble led by Mark Kibble, a tenor singer in the Grammy-winning a cappella gospel sextet Take 6.
“In On It” and the following two tracks follow a similar template: filigree melodies and solos from Metheny deploying his two signature sounds (warm/clean jazz guitar and something akin to effects-drenched trumpet); contrasting sections with drop-downs and build-ups creating calm followed by euphoria; and added textures, from percussive ripples reminiscent of Nana Vasconcelos on early PMG outings, to electronic atmospherics, harp arpeggios, and wordless vocals.
For two slower and more introspective tracks, “Our Old Street” and “So Far So Good”, Metheny switches to steel-string acoustic guitar (possibly semi-acoustic on the former). “Urban and Western” starts like a wonderfully laid-back blues aided by Fishman’s Hammond organ and builds to a joyous gospel feel when the vocal ensemble joins. Hammond organ is prominent on the following “SE-O” as well, where Fishman unleashes a virtuosic solo backed by springy bass from Johns and muscular drumming from Dyson; excepting some wordless vocals towards the end it’s a quartet showcase, likely to become a concert favourite. Another treat is a “flute” solo on “Risk and Reward”; given Metheny’s Orchestrion wizardry, it’s hard to tell whether it’s created by Metheny playing guitar (it sounds like his phrasing) or Fishman playing a flute sample on keys. Either way, it’s impressively authentic.
One minor disappointment is that despite the sheer amount of stuff going on (or perhaps because of it) some of the resources feel underused, especially the vocal ensemble. “Urban and Western” shows their huge potential to provide more than background colour, and even on this track I could have done with even more foregrounding: perhaps a dramatic drop-down leaving just the chorus singing a cappella in all their full-throated glory. Similarly, the harp feels underused; apart from a few glistening arpeggios on some of the tracks it’s barely present. Considering the harp is a string instrument it would be interesting to hear it showcased, no matter how briefly, with just Metheny’s guitar or even alone.
This quibble aside, it’s an album that’s likely to delight Metheny fans of all stripes. Metheny’s always been brave, a musical adventurer, and it will be exciting to hear how he performs this album’s music with just the trio on his latest tour – which includes three London dates at the Barbican in July.
by Julian Maynard-Smith