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PAT METHENY FULL CIRCLE | TWO
The Second of a Series on Pat Metheny
It was The First Circle. I found that record at Schoolkids Records in Ann Arbor, MI when I was in college. Vinyl, of course… still have it. PART ONE HERE: FULL CIRCLE PART ONE
Then senior year – it must have been Still Life (Talking) that just blew me away. That one included Pat’s biggest hit The Last Train Home. And so I was pretty familiar with The Pat Metheny Group and its origins. Lyle Mays (keyboardist) became a fav. Keith Laako, a fraternity brother, loved Lyle Mays and so I got into him too. So sad that he passed away recently! Lyle… not Keith!!!
So it was such a pleasure, one April Sunday in 2024, to spend an evening listening to Pat Metheny, live, at the 92Y in NYC.
For me… then Chicago. Then New York. And life. I sort of lost touch with Pat Metheny’s career.
PAT METHENY was born in Kansas City on August 12, 1954 into a musical family. Starting on trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age. Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, the young Missouri native already displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility – a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional “jazz guitar” sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument. METHENY’S versatility is almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie. Metheny’s body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.
PAT METHENY FULL CIRCLE | ONE
Sonata Allegro Form
| Song | Artist | Album | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Above the Treetops | Pat Metheny Group | Secret Story | 1992 |
| Cathedral in a Suitcase | Pat Metheny Group | Secret Story | 1992 |
| Phase Dance | Pat Metheny Group | Pat Metheny Group | 1978 |
| Antonia | Pat Metheny Group | Secret Story | 1992 |
| 5-5-7 | Pat Metheny Group | Letter from Home | 1989 |
| Mientes | Charly Garcia, Pedro Aznar | Tango 4 | 1991 |
| Facing West | Pat Metheny Group | Secret Story | 1992 |
| Highland Aire | Lyle Mays | Lyle Mays | 1986 |
| Daulton Lee | Pat Metheny Group | Falcon & The Snowman (Soundtrack) | 1985 |
| High Society | Special EFX | Modern Manners | 1985 |
You lucky radio stations – for finding LTNF you get this fabulous show on your air! Well done!
Pat-Metheny-FULL CIRCLE Part TWO
