 Pat Metheny in Melbourne, Florida, USA Patrick Bruce Metheny (born 12 August 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and leader of the Pat Metheny Group.
Roughly, Metheny's musical contexts separate into many branches: the Pat Metheny Group plus various collaborations, duets, solo works, and other side projects.
Pat Metheny Group
Together with keyboardist Lyle Mays, Metheny founded the Pat Metheny Group (PMG) in 1976, after discovering how similar their musical ideas were. The Pat Metheny Group has ever since been one rare example of a jazz formation that has been extremely successful over the years and yet never followed any commercial temptation. They have developed a very dense orchestral way of composing, connecting often with the classical age for counterpoint, metric alternations and musical drama, but also connecting with different kinds of world music, especially South American. Where Metheny is the ultimate melodicist, Mays is the complex harmonist. In 1981 they were joined by bassist Steve Rodby who in the run of time developed as a catalyst in Pat's and Lyle's artistic collaboration and defined much the process of recording. Metheny refers to the PMG as the experimental corner of his music...
Side Projects
When working outside of the confines of the PMG, Metheny has shown different sides to his musical personality. Working with established jazz figures such as Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, and Roy Haynes, he has made records that have found favor with jazz critics that were disparaging of the "pastoral" or "light rock" aspects of his work with the PMG. Projects like the collaboration with Derek Bailey or the hard-to-fathom Zero Tolerance for Silence have confounded critics who saw Metheny as following a path of increasing blandness with the PMG.
Solo Recordings
- New Chautauqua (1978)
- The radically experimental Zero Tolerance for Silence (1992)
- Passagio per il Paradiso (soundtrack) (1996)
- One Quiet Night (2003)
Duets
Trio
Symphonic Projects and Soundtracks
- The Falcon And The Snowman (1985)
- Secret Story (1992)
- Toys (1992)
- A Map of the World (1999)
Collaborations
Influences
Metheny maintains that he plays what he would like to hear as a listener; with his innate curiosity, his music includes a lot of influences, classical as well as cultural. In particular he has been influenced by Brazilian Music. He has lived in Brazil and performed with several local musicians such as Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta.
Metheny has also named Ornette Coleman as an influence, has recorded Coleman compositions on a number of his records, and has even made a record, Song X, with Coleman.
In turn he has himself been influential for a vast number of younger musicians. This is documented by the number of his compositions played by other musicians; and the number of younger players Metheny integrates into the Pat Metheny Group and various other settings.
Discography
- Bright Size Life (1976)
- Watercolors (1977)
- Pat Metheny Group (1978)
- New Chautauqua (1979)
- American Garage (1980)
- 80/81 (1980)
- As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (1981)
- Offramp (1982)
- Travels (1983)
- Rejoicing (1983)
- First Circle (1984)
- The Falcon And The Snowman (movie soundtrack) (1985)
- Song X (1986)
- STILL life (talking) (1987)
- Letter From Home (1989)
- Question And Answer (1990)
- Secret Story (1992)
- The Road To You (1993)
- Zero Tolerance For Silence (1994)
- We Live Here (1995)
- Quartet (1996)
- Passagio Per Il Paradiso (1997)
- beyond the Missouri Sky (short stories) (1997)
- Imaginary Day (1997)
- Like Minds (1999)
- Jim Hall & Pat Metheny (1999)
- A Map Of The World (movie soundtrack) (1999)
- Pat Metheny Trio 99 → 00 (2000)
- Pat Metheny Trio → Live (2000)
- Speaking Of Now (2002)
- One Quiet Night (2003)
- The Way Up (2005)
Books
- "Pat Metheny Songbook," (2000) Hal Leonard, ISBN 0634007963
- Goins, Wayne: "Emotional Response to Music: Pat Metheny's 'Secret Story,'" (2001) ISBN 0773474390
- Viva, Luigi: "Pat Metheny," Paris (1990) Editions Filipacchi
External links
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