PAT METHENY Orchestrion (2010 UK 5-track CD album - Grammy Award-winning composer-guitarist Pat Metheny's 'Orchestrion' may turn out to be his most talked-about, argued-over undertaking. It's already his most adventurous. With 'Orchestrion', Metheny redefines the concept of the solo album. 'Orchestrion' was influenced by the primitive but evocative player-piano technology of yesteryear that has fascinated Metheny since he was a child. The player piano inspired inventors of that age tocreate the 'orchestrion,' a large mechanical multi-instrument device that imitated the sound of an orchestra. Metheny brings this concept into the 21st century, composing and playing five ambitious pieces with his tailor-made, sophisticated, musically dynamic ensemble. 'Orchestrionics' is what Metheny calls this new method of performing. The resulting album, recorded in Manhattan's MSR studio after months of experimentation at home, is a marvel of the digital era, yet the record sounds beautifully, stirringly, human. In other words, timeless!)