Pat Metheny (bottom left) and his Orchestrion

During last night’s show at the Music Center at Strathmore, images of those Animusic digital shorts that used to appear from time to time on PBS came to mind. To the unfamiliar, the segments combined rather bland synth-based orchestrations with computer generated images of mechanical devices playing the corresponding instruments. Last night, this concept came to life.

On stage was a massive metal frame, bathed in warm stage lights and colorful projections, holding up of a variety instruments, including pianos, guitars, percussion, and a host of toys for which we have no names. Computers and gizmos drove the sounds, and controlling it all was a lone musician in black, with his guitar. The Wizard of Oz and SkyNet were teaming up to create a beautiful sound, but for a moment, it felt like the machines were taking over.

At the center was celebrated jazz master Pat Metheny, who has been at the forefront of introducing technology into the jazz idiom since bursting onto the scene in the mid-1970s. The famously shaggy haired 56-year-old was performing with his new project, Orchestrion, supporting his 2010 release of the same name.

“There are two questions that always seem to come up,” Metheny told the near capacity audience. “The first one is, ‘Have you lost your mind?’ The second one is, ‘How does this all work?’”

Over the course of the two-and-a-half hour concert, Metheny addressed both questions. He let the music respond to the second, which made it clear that there was a clear artistic intention at work.