Classic Or Dud: Pat Metheny

Metheny's on the new album by saxophonist Logan Richardson, Shift, which comes out on Friday on Blue Note. It's really good. Here's a sample track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gftN8IQpp0k

I have a real soft spot for the warm, "children's music" sound of some of those '70s ECM dates - Bright Size Life, solo Chick Corea, Eberhard Weber's Colours of Chloe. I don't even get where it was coming from, but it reminds me of being five years old and watching weird-ass promos and station identifications on the local PBS network, which probably used some of that music between Sesame Street and The Electric Company.

(Or at least they used Windham Hill.)

― save the robot (save the robot), Friday, December 30, 2005 11:11 PM (10 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thank you for nailing the appeal of Metheny for me! I'm glad I'm not the only one with these associations. American Garage is not an album I would ever try to defend in objective terms, but I love it unashamedly. I also like a few others (all covered here: Offramp, As Falls Wichita, Bright Size Life) but this is the one that I always pull out, and never fails to make me really happy. We're probably about the same age, because I remember all those 'station IDs' and promos on PBS, too (also the pubic access channel). This stuff also reminds me of sitcom theme music from this period. I never really understood why the Brits loved the Ghost Box label so much but via this epiphany wrt Metheny / proto-Weather Channel (and, yes, Windham Hill!) nostalgia, it's starting to make a lot more sense.

https://dp1eoqdp1qht7.cloudfront.net/community/projects/917/685/164473/2812136-o_1b652pkp91u0i5u7tas484pfo7-full.JPG

From this page:

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/164473

Excellent. I came across this Pat track a few weeks ago. I don't know much about this Polish singer, but she has an amazing voice and must be quite popular as this is a pretty high budget presentation. I thought it was a cool version of the tune. They also have a version of "This Is Not America" which is quite good too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-rUzpW1Glo

Well, this fucking sucks:

R.I.P. Lyle Mays (1953-2020)
It is with great sadness that we have to report the passing of our friend and brother, Lyle Mays (1953-2020). He passed today in Los Angeles after a long battle with a recurring illness, surrounded by loved ones.https://t.co/goeTusSnpC pic.twitter.com/2SOYIXUw84

— Pat Metheny (@PatMetheny) February 11, 2020

Very sad, he was a truly great and underappreciated pianist

Last night my wife confused Pat Metheny with Chuck Mangionne, which led to lots of shared laughs and the decision that Metheny fans ought to be referred to as "Meth Heads"

still life (talking) is just so wildly good

Tbh I'm not sure I've ever listened to any Metheny, though David Blamires is a fixture in my guitar teacher's cover band.

still life (talking) is just so wildly good

I bought this just for the first track and didn't really travel any further inland but thats all changing now!

It's definitely one of my favorites along with Bright Size Life and Offramp.

If you like the first track, also check out "The First Circle". Similarly epic and complex composition with euphoric vocals.

Thats the one with Yolanda You Learn on it? I like that track a lot, I should go inland with that record too!

I'm not really an albums person so tracks are usually disassociated for me and I'm not good with names

Same album, but you should check out the title track

I've been listening to the first PMG album from 78 on LP a lot recently. Sounds so good. Some really nice grooves.

Apparently that and New Chautauqua, which is a possible favourite, got p negative reviews in the contemporary RS record guide? It's not that surprising but does anyone have access to those? I enjoy reading quasi-ideological rockcrit pans from the Golden Age.

still life (talking) is just so wildly good

This is probably exactly backwards but I get a real Larry Heard travelling astral dream paths vibe from this album.

The trio recording Rejoicing on ECM is very nice, great version of “lonely woman”

(The Horace silver one...)

pat goes really wild on the guitar synth at one point

An out of nowhere find but at parts really interesting listen is this podcast discussion I found a few weeks ago between Alan Alda and Pat Metheny.

https://www.aldacommunicationtraining.com/podcast/pat-metheny-discovering-spontaneity-music-everything-else/

I’ve always wondered what a conversation between those two would be like.

I've been spinning Gary Burton's 'Ring' quite a bit lately, featuring a quite-young Metheney. He doesn't sound anything like himself, but it's good early ECM listening.

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is incredible, a recent discovery for me. whats the closest in sound to that one in his catalogue?

Travels or Offramp have Nana Vasconcelos on them which means they have his percussion and wordless vocals – but that’s about it, really. AFWSFWF is really a completely unique entry in Metheny’s catalogue.

It reminds me a bit of the longer, mostly instrumental pieces on Destroyer - Kaputt

As Falls Witchita... is such a great record.

Last Train Home from Still Life (Talking) is also so crazily evocative.

the self-titled pat metheny group record from 1978 is absolute bliss

Ha, that's the one I posted about a few weeks ago. So nice.

At this point I'm going to worry that every bump of an artist related topic will be about them dying of COVID-19 related complications.

.... come on

we already have a thread

recognising and putting aside that some Beato stuff is a little silly, this interview is fantastic -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEgalcH_-b4

Metheny is a really smart cookie. Might not like his music, but the dude has put some serious thought into what he does.

I went down a rabbit hole after watching this interview a few days ago and found older one. This section I thought was very interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czrHAyvdz5o

Crap, it did not post the time...section starts at around 15:44.

Eventually I want to check out that speech he gave at that Neuroscience convention. That Alan Alda podcast also has some really interesting dialog on improvisation and working as a group and how it works. It was really interesting to see them find common ground between acting and music.

I interviewed him the other week; it'll be on Stereogum soon. He is a really smart dude. We talked about Ornette, Derek Bailey, Charlie Haden...the stuff you'd expect me to ask him about.

This Beato interview is fascinating

Somehow I had never heard him talk about his music and technique before. I always pictured him as this kind of airy, new agey person, but he is way more sharp and direct than I imagined. Dude does not fuck around. The whole segment where he's going through the different ways you could work through the chords of "James" is astonishing.

Interview with Questlove today

https://pca.st/episode/1fcaf033-265a-4f37-b184-d881bc42e541

Staying on the Pat Metheny data dive, I came across this article by Lyle Mays. This is also an interesting read that fits in with some of these other interviews.

https://www.lylemays.com/something-left-unsaid

There's an intriguing review on Amazon of Metheny's "Offramp" album that I'd like to share here:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Music That Could Change An Outcome"
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2019
Verified Purchase
In the 80s a girl brought this album and a bottle of wine to my place. She was gorgeous but I was involved and as a result never heard the album until now. I wonder how differently the night might'veended if I had played it then
4 people found this helpful

My Stereogum interview with Metheny just went up.

He's making the rounds!

Favorite Metheny moment: the rapid-fire trading with Kenny Garrett on here (also at the end of Lonnie's Lament on that record)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd3oiusxK4g

I love that he shouts out Joe Dyson, I saw him play a few times in New Orleans with different people when he was very young and knew he had it, he's a fantastic drummer.

Wow, I've other people do the mechanical instrument thing (Dan Deacon, Squarepusher - which doesn't sound worlds away from this), but the scale of his Orchestrion setup is pretty insane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evHVh4bqaOQ

How would *you* like to be his roadie? Even Terry Bozzio's guy would be all "no thanks."

That Tim Martin is looking well

The Music That Made Me is back! Tonight multi-award winning guitar legend Pat Metheny chooses The Beatles, Wes Montgomery and Gary Burton.

The Music That Made Me with Pat Metheny, this evening from 9pm

| @PatMetheny | pic.twitter.com/DGTCPvL4Mn

— Jazz FM (@jazzfm) September 5, 2021

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/story/2023-10-30/heckler-evicted-from-pat-metheny-solo-guitar-concert