The Road to You

After making the jump from ECM to Geffen in the late ‘80s, the Pat Metheny Group transcended the jazz niche and became an international touring phenomenon, a triumph that’s captured beautifully on the band’s second live release, which opens with the sound of a massive crowd chanting the theme to Group staple “Minuano (Six Eight).” Featuring core members Metheny, keyboardist Lyle Mays, bassist Steve Rodby and drummer Paul Wertico along with percussionist/vocalist Armando Marçal and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Pedro Aznar, the outfit was at its communicative peak here, able to transmit Metheny and Mays’s elaborate pop-fusion confections with maximum flair and drama. There’s a relentless, questing optimism in the readings of back catalog favorites like “Have You Heard” and “First Circle” and surprising grit on “Half Life of Absolution,” which never appeared on a PMG studio album. Elsewhere, the Group can sound folksy (“Last Train Home”), festive (“Beat 70”) or enchantingly dreamlike (“Letter From Home”). Just as 1983’s Travels summed up the band’s formative era, The Road to You is a perfect compendium of their globe-trotting, crowd-pleasing middle years.