Jazz Articles about Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny Group: Speaking of Now

by C. Andrew Hovan
February 1, 2002

One would be hard pressed to find a jazz-based ensemble that has stayed together for as long as the Pat Metheny Group, which was formed in 1977. Of course, the band is not the sole musical outlet for any of its members and fans wait patiently as much as five years between releases. Still, over the course of eleven studio albums, the Pat Metheny Group has carved a distinctive niche and gained an unparalleled following.

A successor to 1997's Imaginary ...

Charlie Haden: Nocturne

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2002

What do you hear in darkness? The little things? Sounds that go unnoticed during the day. Crickets, creaking hinges, softly purring machinery, the hum of automobile traffic, and perhaps a distant television or radio. Night creatures are everywhere; but you don't see them. You hear the same things they hear, though; and it helps you to concentrate on your work.

Charlie Haden's ballad album, Nocturne , follows from his love of film noir. Like his Quartet West, this ...

Michael Brecker: Nearness of You: The Ballad Book

by David Adler
July 1, 2001

There comes a time, it seems, when every major-label jazzer has to add a ballads album to his or her discography. That time has come for Michael Brecker, who enlists the formidable Pat Metheny as both producer and guitarist. Along for the ride are three players you may have heard of: Herbie Hancock, Charlie Haden, and Jack DeJohnette. The 11 tracks (divided into two five-track “chapters" and a one-track “epilogue") are flawlessly executed--practically airbrushed--and as mainstream as can be, but ...

Pat Metheny: Trio > Live

by C. Andrew Hovan
January 1, 2001

About this time last year the word came through that guitarist Pat Metheny, in typical chameleonic character, had joined forces with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart for a studio album and some touring in Europe and limited parts of the United States. Both Grenadier and Stewart are several years Metheny's senior, but have been mainstays of the contemporary New York jazz arena and could be expected to bring out new facets of Metheny's musical personality. That's indeed what ...

Pat Metheny: Jim Hall & Pat Metheny

by AAJ Staff
January 1, 2001

Master and apprentice. Predecessor and descendant. Originator and influenced. None of those descriptions of the musical relationship on Jim Hall & Pat Metheny quite sound right. Nor are they accurate. After all, in his own way, Metheny has been greatly original and influential as well. Yet, what we hear on Hall and Metheny's duo album is certainly an affinity. Hall, who always seemed to be unobtrusively present at critical moments the last generation's history ...

Pat Metheny: Trio > Live

by David Adler
December 1, 2000

This two-disc release documents performances from the 2000 world tour of the Pat Metheny Trio, featuring Larry Grenadier on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. Like the trio’s spectacular studio release from earlier this year, the live album draws on material that spans Metheny’s career. The opener takes us back to the first track on Metheny’s first record, “Bright Size Life." Grenadier’s upright puts a new spin on a tune first played by the late Jaco Pastorius. “Unity Village," which ...

Pat Metheny: Trio > Live

by David Adler
December 1, 2000

This two-disc release documents performances from the 2000 world tour of the Pat Metheny Trio, featuring Larry Grenadier on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. Like the trio's spectacular studio release from earlier this year, the live album draws on material that spans Metheny's career. The opener takes us back to the first track on Metheny's first record, “Bright Size Life." Grenadier's upright puts a new spin on a tune first played by the late Jaco Pastorius. “Unity Village," which ...