For Brad Mehldau, this collaboration started at that "life-changing moment" when, as a 13-year-old, a friend played him "Are You Going With Me" from the Pat Methany Group's 1982 live double-album, Travels. Years later, Pat Methany heard "Chill" from saxophonist Joshua Redman's 1994 album Moodswing that featured Brad Mehldau on piano. Since, the two artists have forged an artistic partnership based on shared inspiration, not just mutual admiration. This album features music by both Methany and Mehldau, and was recorded at Right Track Studio (NYC) in December of 2005.This is a dream pairing: Pat Metheny, the Baby Boomer guitar god whose musical palette embraces everything from Ornette Coleman to contemporary jazz, teams with pianist Brad Mehldau, the brooding Gen X prince of the piano on the verge of becoming himself. After admiring each other for years, they're now on the same label, and this dynamic duel extends their mutual admiration into a very personal and simpatico release that recalls the intimacy of that 1960s Jim Hall/Bill Evans masterpiece, Undercurrent. Save for Mehldau's bandmates drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier forming a quartet on the bop-mazed "Ring of Life" and the Afro-Caribbean cadences of "Say the Brother's Name," it's two for the road on the rest of the recording. When you hear selections like "Unrequited," "Ahmid-6," and "Make Peace," you know that this CD is only the start of something big from these two artists. --Eugene Holley, Jr.
![Pat Metheny Group: The Way Up - Live [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515MX2W179L._SL75_.jpg)
