Pat Metheny What's It All About 180g 2LP (Vinyl)

2012 Grammy Winner:
• Best New Age Album

TAS Rated 4/5 Music, 5/5 Sonics in the October 2011 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

180-Gram Audiophile Quality 2LP Set Plated and Pressed at Pallas, Diepholz, Germany!

The acoustic solo guitar album from Pat Metheny called "What's It All About" features classic tunes from songwriters like Paul Simon, Lennon & McCartney, Burt Bacharach, and Henry Mancini. Pat describes it like this: "I wanted to record some of the music that was on my radar before I ever wrote a note of my own, or in a few cases, even before I played an instrument. Every one of these tunes has something going on that is just hip on a musical level, no matter how you cut it. They have all stuck with me over the years."

"This time out, it's something so intimate and stunningly beautiful it would appear the boy from Lee's Summit, Missouri, has been touched by angels. A sublime revue of relaxed guitar interpretations of familiar and fetching pop melodies from the 60s, What's It All About has Metheny performing on a warm-sounding baritone guitar that allows him to cover his own bass lines, lending a rich, orhcestral texture to the proceedings" - Bill Milkowski, The Absolute Sound, October 2011, Issue 216, Pg. 132

"...he makes Zen-like use of space with his amazing 42-string Pikasso guitar on a stirring interpretation of "The Sound Of Silence." with strategically placed microphones in a resonant space, and just a hint of reverb, this is also one of the most gorgeous recordings of the year." - Bill Milkowski, The Absolute Sound, October 2011, Issue 216, Pg. 132

After nearly 40 recordings under his name, this marks the first time there is not a single Metheny composition represented. Rather, What’s It All About comprises 10 classic songs, some very well known, that hold personal meanings for the guitarist. This 180g Double LP edition includes two additional tracks.

Pat Metheny is featured in the Guardian's series 50 Great Moments in Jazz History, which examines Metheny's many contributions to his craft through his virtuosic playing, genre-defying collaborations, high-tech experimentation, and more. "Metheny is that rare jazz musician who combines a pop-composer's instinct for an anthemic melody with a virtuoso ability to play extended spontaneous solos without repeating himself," says the Guardian. "More than any other jazz guitarist of the post-bop era, Pat Metheny has given the instrument as natural and prominent a place in jazz as a trumpet or a saxophone."

Recorded February 2011 in New York, NY. Recorded by Pat Metheny, Pete Karam, and David Oakes. Mixed by Pete Karam. Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, New York, NY.

"This is a straight solo baritone guitar record (except instrument changes as noted); edits but no overdubs. And as in the previous solo baritone guitar record, One Quiet Night, the basic tuning used throughout this recording is A D G C E A. The relative intervallic relationship of the strings is the same as a conventional guitar tuned down a fifth. However, as in a "Nashville" tuning, the 3rd and 4th strings are restrung and tuned an octave higher than usual. In the case of this tuning, the 5th and 6th strings are quite low in pitch. The longer scale of the baritone guitar accommodates this, but heavy bass guitar strings are still required. For this recording, I varied the tuning by keeping the same intervallic relationship but moving the entire tuning up and down on a tune-by-tune basis in a range from Ab to C. I first learned about this tuning many years ago from Dr. Ray Harris, a great guitarist and inventor from my hometown of Lee's Summit, Missouri." - Pat Metheny

"No overdubs, no other instruments, just one of the world's pre-eminent guitarists taking a long, lone journey through dusk, twilight and into the long hours." - The Independent, London

Features:
• 180-Gram Audiophile Quality Vinyl
• Plated and Pressed at Pallas, Diepholz, Germany
• Double LP

Musicians:
Pat Metheny, Solo Baritone Guitar (Except *42-String Guitar, **6-String Guitar, ***Nylon-String Guitar)

Selections:
LP1 - Side A:
1. The Sound of Silence*
2. Cherish
3. Alfie
LP1 - Side B:
1. Pipeline**
2. Garota De Ipanema (Girl from Ipanema)
3. Rainy Days And Mondays
LP2 - Side C:
1. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
2. Slow Hot Wind
3. Betcha By Golly, Wow
LP2 - Side D:
1. And I Love Her***
Bonus Tracks:
2. 'Round Midnight
3. This Nearly Was Mine