Over the years I have done a lot of records with players like Michael Brecker, Joshua Redman, Gary Thomas, Tony Williams or Kenny Garrett where there is a bunch of music, a few guys who can really play and in a few days you put something special together.

I have really only done one record that fits that profile on my own, as you mentioned, which was "80/81" which has probably been an influential record in its own right, including some of the records I have gone on to make with these other people.

What attracted you to working with Chris Potter?

I have admired Chris Potter for a long time and had heard him a few times over the past few years where he completely knocked me over with his amazing growth as a musician. He is one of the most powerful musicians on the planet right now. So, I thought it would be fun to build a project around the two of us. So now, instead of having only one "rhythm section plus a horn player record" record out of 40+ records, I have two! What I am happy about is that neither one of them are sort of generic versions of that way of putting a band together, they both have a pretty strong personality of their own as records.

Ben Williams is a relatively new face on the jazz scene -- how does he compare with some of the legends you've worked with of the past -- like the late Jaco Pastorius or former Miles Davis sideman Dave Holland?

To me, Ben is a real up and coming guy. I heard him when he was a Juilliard (School) student and was impressed. He has a lot of the building blocks in place that could take him to a really high level, and he is a great person, too, which counts for a lot. He has been perfect for this band, and we have been having a great time playing together.

For a long time it seemed that Lyle Mays was the common thread for many of your musical projects -- now it seems that Antonio Sanchez is the common thread. What keeps you coming back to these particular collaborators?

Antonio is such a great musician, besides being incredible as a drummer. We are in an era where suddenly there are a whole bunch of really great drummers out there, and being the drum enthusiast that I am, I am excited about that, but I still keep coming back to Antonio. He brings a certain originality to the way he plays that I really value, and he really knows my thing so well at this point.

Once I have played a bunch with someone, it is always an ongoing thing. I still enjoy playing with people that I played with in high school when I go back to Kansas City to visit. To me, if there is a real musical connection, it is lifelong.

For the tour, are you rearranging older PMG material for the new quartet?

If the tune is a good tune, you can do it with a kazoo and a washboard! Instrumentation is way secondary. Mostly I am focused on playing the music that I wrote for these guys, but we might have a few surprises in there.

Are you performing any of Potter or Williams' compositions?

No, not this time. Being a bandleader for me is as much about the writing of all the music as much as anything else about it. It gives me a chance to indicate through the notes the things I really admire about other musicians and why I picked them play on a certain project.

How permanent is this project -- will you work with the Unity Band again in the future?

We have been having such a great time. Right from the start it was a band that had great chemistry. I wouldn't be surprised if we do this again at some point along the way. I think we have all been having a lot of fun.

In recent years you've been working primarily in smaller musical settings, solo, duo, trio, quartet. Any plans for a larger Pat Metheny Group recording, or has that unit been retired?

That is the next thing. I am writing new stuff for it already and fine-tuning the direction that I want to take it in this time. I am really happy to get the chance to do so many different kinds of things. Each one has its own challenges.

Anything else in the pipeline?

The Orchestrion Project DVD and soundtrack album are about to be released documenting that wild tour and project.