Nonesuch to Release Two New Pat Metheny Albums on May 6: "The Unity Sessions" & "Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny"

Nonesuch Records will release a pair of new albums from guitarist, composer, and bandleader Pat Metheny on May 6, 2016. Metheny is well-known as a musical collaborator, and both records feature friends and colleagues with whom he has worked for years.  The Unity Sessions is taken from a filmed performance with Pat Metheny Unity Group that was recently released on DVD; the set comprises 13 songs by Metheny, one he co-wrote with Ornette Coleman, and one well known standard by Ray Noble.

And Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny joins the guitarist with a trio led by longtime Pat Metheny Group trumpeter Cuong Vu.  The release comprises five tunes written by Vu plus one by Metheny and one by Andrew D'Angelo.

In 2013, for the first time since 1980, Metheny recorded with a band that highlighted tenor saxophone. The resulting Unity Band, which went on to win him his 20th Grammy Award, featured Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, longtime collaborator Antonio Sanchez on drums, and Ben Williams on bass. Metheny then took that same ensemble into new territory with the addition of his Orchestrion and a focus on more through-composed material and christened the ensemble Pat Metheny Unity Group. The Group's first record, Kin (←→), was released by Nonesuch back in 2014 and was named the best jazz album of the year in the DownBeat Readers Poll Awards. The Group went on a world tour of more than 150 cities; and at the end, they hunkered down in a small Manhattan theater to film new performances of music from the original Unity Band, the expansive Kin(←→), and touchstones from the entirety of Metheny's music catalog. The results were released on DVD last year as The Unity Sessions, and now Nonesuch releases the album of the same name.

Pat Metheny - The Unity Sessions Arrives on Home Entertainment

Eagle Rock Entertainment is proud to announce the release on September 18 2015 of Pat Metheny

- The Unity Sessions on DVD and Blu-ray. Featuring new performances of songs from the Grammy winning Unity Band record, the expansive Unity Group KIN(←→) recording, and touchstones from the entirety of Metheny’s illustrious career, these are essential performances that serve as a rare visual documentation of some of the best music of Metheny’s ever expanding career.

Pat Metheny - The Unity Sessions finds the 20 time Grammy-winning guitarist and the youngest member of the Downbeat Hall of Fame at the helm of one of his best bands ever. This concert was filmed as they wrapped up a 150-date world tour, with an intimate studio performance filmed in at 5 Angels Theater in New York City.

As well as the amazing full concert itself, The Unity Sessions include an insightful filmed interview backstage with Pat Metheny and the band.