Jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton formed the original Gary Burton Quartet in 1967 with bassist Steve Swallow and a couple of other hip jazz cats (namely, guitarist Larry Coryell and drummer Roy Haynes), predating the sometimes exhilarating but often lugubrious jazz fusion craze by at least a few years. Coryell left the band after a few years, and a number of talented jazz guitar slingers filled the slot, Pat Metheny among them. Recorded live in June of 2007 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, CA, Quartet Live reunites Burton, Swallow and Metheny, and includes drummer Antonio Sanchez, who’s been playing in the Pat Metheny Band for a number of years. The chemistry between these four jazz masters is obvious, as the quartet just clicks on a set that includes such compositions as Duke Ellington’s beautiful ballad (and disc highlight) “Fleurette Africaine,” Chick Corea’s “Sea Journey,” Carla Bley’s “Olhos de Gato” and “Syndrome,” Keith Jarret’s “Coral” and Metheny’s own “Missouri Uncompromised,” “B and G” and “Question and Answer,” the well-known Metheny staple here given an 13-minute treatment that somehow manages to avoid sounding like aimless, ego-driven noodling, like the rest of the album, really. (Concord Jazz, 2009)
