My first introduction to the Pat Metheny Group came at age 9, on one of many mind-numbing car trips my family took to California.
My father took these opportunities to inflict his favorite and most boring music upon me. Pat Metheny was considered the punishment music by my brother and me.
However, the fact that the Pat Metheny Group is the only group in history to win seven consecutive Grammy Awards for seven consecutive releases suggests that maybe dad knew something about music that my 9-year-old brain couldn't understand.
Speaking of Now, Pat Metheny Group's 11th recording, is more accessible to all listeners than are previous recordings. The three new members of the group add a richer dynamic to the standard, easily recognizable sound of the group.
Antonio Sanchez, the group's new drummer from Mexico City, brings new action to the otherwise mellow jazz guitars and keyboard. Richard Bona's murmured and soothingly hypnotic vocals on "Afternoon" and "You" create a rich, textured sound, while "One Her Way" exhibits the unique and well-balanced blend of Bona's vocals and Cuong Vu's trumpet.
The technical difficulty of the music and the obvious talent of the musicians are evident on every track. But these are details only to be appreciated by those with a deep interest in modern jazz.
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For the rest of us, it is an album that takes too long to warm up to and has a tendency to lose its initial charm.
It breaks boundaries, provides insight into the jazz tradition and will undoubtedly receive limitless praise from jazz critics.
But many more will find it more abstract and irritating than exciting. The wandering guitar interludes that characterize Metheny's music will continue to remind me of those excruciatingly boring stretches of desert highway.
