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Cuong Vu Trio With Pat Metheny: Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny

By Dan McClenaghan
June 4, 2016
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Cuong Vu Trio With Pat Metheny: Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny

One of the most distinctive jazz sounds to have appeared this millennium has been shaped by

Cuong Vu

trumpet
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Cuong Vu. Beginning with his It's Mostly Residual (ArtistShare, 2005) through Vu-Tet (ArtistShare, 2007) and into Leaps of Faith, (Origin Records 2011), the modernistic and often plugged-in trumpeter has crafted an assault of sound: a thick, sludgy, glow-in-the-dark, pugnaciously percussive music that reaches out of the speakers and grabs you by the front of the shirt.

Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny doesn't change a thing. It's the same brashness, the same solar flare of a sound.

Pat Metheny

guitar
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Pat Metheny, the legendary guitarist, fits right in here, in the same way he fit into Ornette Coleman's idiosyncratic world view on Song X (Geffin Records, 1986). Though in the case of Vu, it was sitting in with a former band mate—Vu played in Metheny's band in the early 2000s, contributing to the guitarist's Speaking of Now (2002) and The Way Up (2005), both on .

But this is Vu's record, beginning with "Acid Kiss," a searing nine minute-plus electro-anthem that sounds as if it were recorded on a planet with a thicker, more viscous atmosphere than Earth's. Bassist

Stomu Takeishi

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Stomu Takeishi and drummer

Ted Poor

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Ted Poor send out soundwaves that shake your rib cage; Metheny an Vu wail like malevolent leviathans of the denser atmosphere that rule that extra-terrestrial world, and God help the puny humanoid who sets down there. Bracing stuff.

The mood is maintained with "Not Crazy (Just Giggying Up)." Metheny gets a chance to step out a bit more here, spitting out stinging, rapid-fire notes. The momentum is fierce, with Takeishi and Poor raging. "Seeds of Doubt" says these guys can lay down a ballad with a finesse that remains muscular, with some introspective, pretty playing by Metheny. "Tiny Little Pieces" sounds as if rode the radio waves in from somewhere in deep space; and "Telescope," Pat Metheny's one compositional contribution—the rest are Vu originals—has a forceful luminosity—starlight, not reflected light. Metheny soars.

Cuanog Vu's artistic voice remains singular. Powerhouse sounds.

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Track Listing

Acid Kiss; Not Crazy (Just Giddy Upping); Seeds Of Doubt; Tiny Little Pieces; Telescope; Let's Get Back; Tune Blues.

Personnel

Cuong Vu

trumpet

Cuong Vu: trumpet; Stomu Takeishi: bass; Ted Poor: drums; Pat Metheny: guitar.

Album information

Title: Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Nonesuch Records

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