PAT METHENY’S ORCHESTRION TO BE RELEASED JANUARY 26, 2010
2010 U.S. TOUR DATES ADDED

Pat Metheny

Seventeen-time Grammy Award-winner Pat Metheny once again explores new territory with his forthcoming project, Orchestrion. Following the album’s January 26, 2010 release on Nonesuch Records (February 9 on vinyl), the genre-shattering guitarist/composer will embark on an extensive solo tour, performing in arts centers and concert halls nationwide.

Orchestrion brings a musical idea from the late 19th and early 20th centuries — a large mechanical multi-instrument device that utilizes actual orchestral instruments of various types, called an “orchestrion” — to the technologies of today. Metheny’s concept includes a large ensemble of acoustic instruments — including several pianos, drum kit, marimbas, “guitar-bots,” dozens of percussion instruments, and even cabinets of carefully tuned bottles. Through Metheny’s guitar and compositional mind, five new original pieces showcase the instruments as they are struck, plucked, and otherwise played via the technology of solenoid switches and pneumatics. Metheny worked for months with a brilliant team of scientists and engineers to develop and assemble the New Orchestrion for this project.

“As the instruments started to trickle in from the various inventors,” Metheny says, “the experience of writing for them and figuring out what might be possible with them provided a self-imposed challenge that proved to be difficult and time-consuming, but absolutely exhilarating. I am excited to share this project. If nothing else, this has turned out to be something unique. And in the process of developing all this music and these instruments and discovering what they can do and what they are good at, I learned so much. It feels like progress and has gotten some notes out of me that I didn’t know were there. But the surprise was just how far I was able to go with it all. Within this new environment, I found something in there that took me to some new places.”

A limited-edition poster signed by Metheny is available now with Orchestrion CD or LP pre-orders, exclusively at the Nonesuch site to the first 500 customers. As always, CDs and LPs ordered from the Nonesuch Store include audiophile-quality (320 kbps) MP3s at no additional cost, available for download on release day.

Over the course of more than three decades Metheny has set himself apart from the jazz mainstream, expanding and blurring boundaries and musical styles. His record-setting body of work includes seventeen Grammy Awards in twelve separate categories; a series of influential trio recordings; award winning solo albums; scores for hit Hollywood motion pictures; and collaborations and duets with major artists such as Ornette Coleman, Steve Reich, Charlie Haden, Brad Mehldau, and many others. His band, the Pat Metheny Group, founded in 1977, is the only ensemble in history to win Grammys for seven consecutive releases.

Pat Metheny North American Tour Dates

04/06/10 Tue Lyell B Clay Concert Theatre Morgantown, WV

04/07/10 Wed UNC Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC

04/08/10 Thu Robert Ferst Center for the Arts Atlanta, GA

04/09/10 Fri Ruth Eckerd Hall Clearwater, FL

04/10/10 Sat The Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theater Miami Beach, FL

04/11/10 Sun Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Gainesville, FL

04/13/10 Tue Nokia Theatre Grand Prairie, TX

04/14/10 Wed Paramount Theatre Austin, TX

04/16/10 Fri Lensic Performing Arts Center Santa Fe, NM

04/17/10 Sat Mesa Arts Center – Ikeda Theater Mesa, AZ

04/18/10 Sun Rialto Theatre Tucson, AZ

04/19/10 Mon Walt Disney Concert Hall Los Angeles, CA

04/20/10 Tue Campbell Hall Santa Barbara, CA

04/21/10 Wed Spreckels Theater San Diego, CA

04/23/10 Fri Grand Sierra Theatre (Reno Hilton) Reno, NV

04/24/10 Sat Zellerbach Auditorium Berkeley, CA

04/25/10 Sun Napa Valley Opera House Napa, CA

04/26/10 Mon Civic Auditorium Santa Cruz, CA

04/28/10 Wed Aladdin Theater Portland, OR

04/29/10 Thu Washington Center for the Performing Arts Olympia, WA

04/30/10 Fri Meany Hall Seattle, WA

05/01/10 Sat The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts Vancouver, BC

05/02/10 Sun Hult Center Eugene, OR

05/04/10 Tue Kingsbury Hall Salt Lake City, UT

05/05/10 Wed Paramount Theatre Denver, CO

05/07/10 Fri Uptown Theater Kansas City, MO

05/08/10 Sat Touhill Performing Arts Center St. Louis, MO

05/09/10 Sun Fitzgerald Theater Saint Paul, MN

05/10/10 Mon Symphony Center Chicago, IL

05/12/10 Wed Taft Theatre Cincinnati, OH

05/13/10 Thu Massey Hall Toronto, ON

05/14/10 Fri Music Hall Center for the Arts Detroit, MI

05/15/10 Sat Lorain Palace Civic Center Lorain, OH

05/16/10 Sun Bardavon 1869 Opera House Poughkeepsie, NY
05/18/10 Tue Keswick Theatre Glenside, PA
05/19/10 Wed Strathmore North Bethesda, MD

05/20/10 Thu Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA

05/21/10 Fri Town Hall New York, NY

05/22/10 Sat Town Hall New York, NY

Complete Pat Metheny tour dates available here.