Page 113 - FULL BOOK Isata Kanneh-Mason Childhood Tales

symptomatic of the pianist’s warm personality, and that’s a winner. Ken
Walton

JAZZ

Pat Metheny: Dream Box (BMG Modern Recordings) ****

Pat Metheny’s “dream boxes” are his much-loved, hollow-bodied electric
guitars and here the ever-questing master guitarist forsakes his expansive

band format for these nine intimately laid down solo tracks, recorded over

the past few years and “rediscovered” on his laptop. These generally
double-tracked pieces are meditative, often tender ballads, their vibe

exemplified by the gently ascending chords of his opener, The Waves Are

Not the Sea, the unhurried deliberations of From the Mountains or the
gentle rise and fall of Clouds Can’t Change the Sky. Mainly his own

compositions, there are also three covers including dreamy deliberations on

Russ Long’s Never Was Love and the fond bossa sashaying of the Bonfá-
Maria standard Morning of the Carnival. Those looking for fireworks may be

disappointed, but Metheny describes these tracks simply as “moments in
time” and at their best they do make time stand still. Jim Gilchrist