Pat Metheny-Trio 99→00 (2000)

 

Artist: Pat Metheny

Title: Trio 99→00

Label: Warner Bros.

Format: CD

Cat #: 9 47632-2

Year of Release: 2000

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 2000 with slipcover

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 5/16/25

Sell Price: $7.69

Discogs Last Sold: 5/8/25 VG+/VG+ $2.50

Low: $0.99

Median: $3.00

Average: $3.95

High: $10.11

Current low price: $0.99

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 26

Have/Want: 494/33

Where Sold: Kapolei, HI

Time it took to sell: 9 months

Where and When Bought:  facebook $2 lot

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No

Top shelf trio from fusion legend Pat Metheny.  At some point in the 90's or so his albums took a left turn from a slicker sounding era.  Here, the band are roughly a dozen years younger than Pat.  Double bass player Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart were both born in 1966.  Long enough to be established players with other musicians, but young enough for Pat to be in the elder statesman role on the edge of his generation as opposed to playing with someone that could be his kid.

The true elder statesman come in the form of the covers: "Capricorn" from Wayne Shorter's Super Nova album from 1970 and the title track from John Coltrane's 1960 album Giant Steps.  There is also a Metheny arranged standard "A Lot Of Livin' To Do" from Bye, Bye Birdie later done by Nancy Wilson, Louis Armstrong and Sarah Vaughan.

The rest of 99 to 00 has both electric and acoustic leads.  I prefer the electric ones. When you hear something like "We Had A Sister" there is a bit of that slick feel with the drums that makes you think that bar chimes aren't too far away even on this stripped-down format.   The bridge to Pat's past come at the end with the songs co-written by his Pat Metheny Group pianist Lyle Mays: "Lone Jack" and "Travels"   They were recorded with that group.  "Lone Jack" was on the 1978 debut and "Travels" was the title track in 1983 for a live album where it was swathed in reverb and new age keys.  "Travels" made me think of "Dirty Old Town" which the Pogues covered and The Dubliners made popular in the 60's and was originally from 1949 by Ewan MacColl's song about England. Maybe he heard it traveling to the UK or Ireland and had the melody in his head.

A good guitar album to listen to a few times in a row.

ED NOTE: After I wrote this up, I went to AllMusic to see if I missed anything obvious on a cursory rock-centric level (not a downbeat jazz one).  I've changed nothing, but it seems like I came to a similar conclusion.  There was no mention there or anywhere that this was a clear tangent of "Dirty Old Town."  Could it be I had an actual original thought?