Pat Metheny, the guitar phenomenon who has constantly reinvented himself over a career spanning almost 40 years, has visited Hungary with almost all of his many varied line-ups. However, the Unity Group, with which he performs for the first time at the Palace of Arts at this year's Jazz Spring, signals the dawn of an entirely new era. "The Unity Band record and tour was such a life changing experience for me that I didn't want to see it come to an end.” says Pat Metheny. "One night, I woke up with the tantalizing idea of taking the concept of musical ‘Unity' even further. With this project, I want to form a platform that encompasses the entire range of things that I have done over the years, from Bright Size Life to Secret Story, from my group projects to the Orchestrion, and with this incredible group of musicians, Chris Potter, Ben Williams, Antonio Sanchez and Giulio Carmassi, just about anything is possible!' In 2014, the Pat Metheny Unity Band thus becomes the Unity Group, which its leader intends as a new vehicle for his typically lush, harmonically dense music, combined with a focus on written material that has always been a big part of his larger groups. This brand new material, due to be recorded in February, will be presented to the audience at the National Concert Hall by a quintet whose leader can be regarded as one of the most successful and important artists in jazz history.

Presented by: Palace of Arts