Metheny’s ensemble proves a graceful fit

The best thing Pat Metheny did Saturday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall was to bring a band that featured three of the most talented players on the contemporary jazz scene: bassist Christian McBride (recently appointed creative chair for jazz with the Los Angeles Philharmonic), tenor saxophonist David Sanchez and drummer Antonio Sanchez. The next best thing Metheny did was to allocate substantial solo space for these extraordinary musicians.

That’s not to say that Metheny didn’t do considerable playing of his own. The ever-versatile guitarist opened with a solo set in which he successively illustrated his skill with finger plucking, strumming and electronic sound manipulation. For the latter, he used his 42-string Pikasso guitar to create a swirling array of panchromatic sounds.

During the program, Metheny seemed to change guitars on virtually every number, using a slip-sliding fretless instrument on one number in dark-toned tandem with Sanchez’s roving saxophone lines. Less effectively, one or two excursions into high-decibel rock-style soloing underscored Metheny’s crossover history without adding any musically stimulating aspects to an evening that came alive when the full ensemble was in action.

Collective pieces, such as “Police People” and “The Good Life” (works newly added to the re-release of “Song X,” Metheny’s 1985 collaboration with Ornette Coleman), burst through the curtain of guitar sounds that dominated the first half of the night, with a stirring blend of driving rhythm and inventive improvising.

The contributions of the drummer Sanchez and bassist McBride can best be described as extraordinary, their combined playing a state-of-the-art display of brilliant rhythm-making, overflowing with the subtle interlacing of texture and propulsion.

Saxophonist Sanchez was at his best in every number, moving convincingly from up-tempo swing to moving poignancy on a ballad dedicated to musician Michael Brecker (ill with myelodysplastic syndrome).

And Metheny, once the arrival of the full ensemble relieved him of the need to prove his crossover eclecticism, settled into a series of impressive solos, displaying the fluid, improvisational articulateness that is the real engine that drives his music.