First Circle – 2003
Pat Metheny
The guitarist is featured with the Metropole Orchestra
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Guitarist Pat Metheny first recorded “First Circle” as the title cut of an album in 1984 that also featured keyboardist Lyle Mays and the wordless vocalizing of Pedro Aznar.
Several big bands recorded the song through the years, and Metheny kept it in his repertoire, documenting it again on his 1991 album “The Road To You.”
In 2003, he teamed with the Metropole Orchestra (conducted by Jim McNeely) for a colorful orchestral version that also featured Fay Lovsky’s singing and pianist Hans Vroomans.
-Scott Yanow
Ella Fitzgerald