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Pat MethenyJazz musician
Date of Birth: 12.08.1954
Country:  USA |
Content:
Jazz musician
During a time when many believed jazz had lost its great names, guitarist Pat Metheny played crossover, synthesizing jazz with rock, country, or folk, and gained a wide circle of fans and earned the respect of outstanding jazz musicians. Metheny is one of the most original guitarists of the past 20 years. He is a successful musician who has gained immense popularity but has also had unpredictable twists in his musical career. His recordings with the Pat Metheny Group are difficult to classify (folk-jazz? mood music?), but as a musician who is both accessible and original, Metheny is famous enough to play in any style he desires without losing his audience.
Biography of Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny (whose older brother, Mike Metheny, played the trumpet) began playing the guitar at the age of 13. He quickly developed his skills and as a teenager, he simultaneously studied at the University of Miami and Berklee College of Music. His debut recording was a project with Paul Bley and Jaco Pastorius in 1974. A significant period was his collaboration with Gary Burton's group (1974-77), where he met keyboardist Lyle Mays. In 1978, Metheny formed his own group, initially including Mays, bassist Mark Egan, and drummer Dan Gottlieb. The Metheny Group performed compositions that laid the groundwork for musicians gravitating towards expansive melodic improvisational techniques. Metheny added a 12-string electric guitar and a Roland guitar synthesizer to his arsenal, in addition to the standard acoustic and electric guitars. In a short period of time, Metheny became one of the leading performers on ECM and one of the most popular jazz musicians, attracting stadiums of listeners to his concerts.
Metheny generally avoided playing predictable music, and his free projects were always quite interesting. The 1980 album "80/81" featured Dewey Redman and Mike Brecker in a post-bop quintet, in 1983 he formed a trio with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, and two years later recorded the highly unusual album "Song X" with Ornette Coleman. Among his other projects outside of the group, Metheny's involvement in Sonny Rollins' combo, the 1990 tour with Herbie Hancock's quartet, playing in a trio with Dave Holland and Roy Haynes, and collaboration with Joshua Redman can be noted. Although his 1994 album "Zero Tolerance for Silence" is difficult to consider a complete success, Pat Metheny maintains his popularity and remains a creative performer.
When Metheny spoke about himself to readers in the February 1998 issue of Down Beat magazine, he said, "the best musicians I know, those I admire and listen to most often, are usually gifted with the ability to sense the depth of the musical moment and react quickly to give that moment an expressiveness that reflects the spirit of the times in which they live."
Discography:
- 1998: Across the Sky / Warner Brothers
- Are You Going with Me / ECM
- In Her Family / David Geffen Cs
- Last Train Home / David Geffen Cs
