Trio Live

Pat Metheny's brought a string of trios to bear on his music, none of them lasting as a touring band long enough to bring a session like Trio Live to life. As on Trio 99-00, Metheny's bandstand has Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart beside him, and they burn from start to finish. Taking up 13 tunes, Metheny shows off every nuance of his talents. Stewart invokes Elvin Jones, with a lead-footed focus on tempo and a hammering power. Grenadier provides calm force, keeping time with steely firmness. Metheny is all over the map, laying back to open the session, throwing off torrents of modulated guitar synth on a 19-minute "Question and Answer" and then diving laconically into one of jazz's least laconic pieces, John Coltrane's "Giant Steps." He's granite thick on the rocking "Faith Healer" and gently harplike on "Into the Dream," grooving steadily in between. All the while, the audience is hyped and involved. The trio has chemistry like Keith Jarrett's standards project, with each member providing texture and finishing each other's musical thoughts telepathically. This you can hear on familiar tunes, as well as on 35 minutes of new material rounding out the second disc. --Andrew Bartlett