Metheny's gizmo sidemen a bit flat

On Tuesday night at the Keswick Theatre, Pat Metheny hung out with himself.

For most of the two-hour-and-20-minute concert, the woolly- haired guitarist directed a wall of electronic instruments what to play, layered in the parts as if he were recording in a studio, and then added a startling guitar line on top.

The result was visually stimulating, for awhile. The wall of electronics would light up, often along with the beat, like a Star Trek dance party.

The music scored occasionally - Metheny remains a mind-blowing player - but grew less effective over the course of the evening. Metheny's dalliances with himself seemed to be locked in amber. There were no sidemen to be surprised by, no personalities to joust with.

They had all been outsourced by what Metheny called an orchestrion, a novel riff on the player piano that Metheny had loved as a child. Using a foot pedal, the guitarist could summon everything from bottles and bass drums to xylophones, vibraphones, pianos, bass, and more guitar.

Perhaps mindful that the machines might not swing, Metheny began with the gizmos turned off, employing an acoustic guitar for dark, Spanish-tinged tunes. In an evening dominated by technology, he also trotted out a wild, sitar-sounding guitar - yet another toy.

He then pulled a drape off of a large electronic console that towered over him, and started into "Unity Village," from his first album, Bright Size Life. Back in 1975, he had overdubbed the parts in the studio. So it seemed fitting to start there, he said, on a night when he had the power to overdub all the parts in real time.

Next came the five-part Orchestrion suite, captured on his most recent Nonesuch release. The music was beautiful at times, but oddly undramatic. The final part, "Soul Search," was especially anticlimactic, losing tension when Metheny wasn't soloing.

Finally, like the Wizard of Oz, he showed the audience how it was all done, layering in each part slowly until a cacophonous flow was unleashed.

Metheny's brilliance made it all workable for awhile, but the effort to elevate his electronic servants seemed to tax even his powers.

One wondered where his celebrated sidemen were, and why he would do this. The set was interesting as an experiment but ultimately unsatisfying, like a date with oneself often turns out to be.