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I just picked up a stack of 8 ECM CDs, 80's vintage Pat Metheny, American Garage, New Chataqua, etc.
I was never a fan back when he was new and popular, I thought Bright Size Life (and I'd love to find a copy, wasn't in this set) was great but that's it.
I'm giving it a chance again, recognizing some of the tunes as jazz radio "hits" from back then. I think he has a unique concept and voice, I just can't relate his music as jazz- it just doesn't swing, for the most part, and the major chord harmonies all sound sing-songy. I've still got 5 to go, so we'll see.....
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He's got his own sound, a distinct vibe, the whole ECM sensibility. If you haven't found a connection and you are into a more of a Blue Note sound, you're not going to get there by force feeding your ear into something your heart doesn't feel.
Pat's got a Pat world. Joe Pass' has his own world. There's plenty of room for what we like and not nearly enough time in one lifetime to become everything.
I say listen to what you like, get inspired and practice until you're above comparison yourself. It's the name of the game: Love it until you're the best at being yourself.
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I never cared for Bright Size Life very much, myself; it just feels sort of frenetic and the songs sound disorganized to me, but I suppose that's youth and abundant chops for you. After 45 years of studying the guitar, I still couldn't play any of it myself! I suppose that's the curse of persistence over talent, the latter of which I have none.
The first few Pat Metheny Group albums, I enjoyed; after about Offramp and Travels, he lost me with that particular band. Things just sounded more and more bland and overproduced to me. What the hell do I know? He sold lots and lots of records with that music! Obviously somebody liked it.
But his non-PMG projects are often very interesting. Wichita Falls, 80/81, Trio 99 - 00 and Trio Live, Song X, Beyond the Missouri Sky, the duo with Jim Hall, Rejoicing, Question and Answer, The Wish, Day Trip, are all interesting to me. I've never heard the Heath Brothers stuff. I did not like the Gary Burton material; I dislike vibes so that doesn't help, but it's historically very important music. I like his small group stuff the best, when PMG was a quartet and his small side project groups. I've seen him 3-4 times live and came away amazed each time, brilliant musicianship.
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Pat Metheny is a giant of the guitar and a simply brilliant musician.
Over 40 years ago I loved his music and the sound of the guitar. He had a great influence on my interest in music.
I listened to almost all of his albums recorded for record labels.
I recorded an album inspired by Pat's music - thanks Pat.
Best
Kris
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It's needless to say, but we like in others what we see in ourselves. If I'm working on things I am drawn to, like a late 1950's swing sense and a warm straight amplified sound of a jazz box, that's going to be what I try to emulate and it's going to be the artists I find an affinity with.
Pat came from a tradition that grew out of Gary Burton, a revolutionary leader in the late 60's and 70's. He was actively listening for elements that went AGAINST the music of the day in the jazz scene. There were many musicians and guitarists who didn't want to continue the traditions that you have alluded to in things you like.
Any time you choose a music that's out to re-define the music you like, there's the big risk that you're not going to like what they're doing; they were restless with what you are comfortable with.
One of Pat's early and constant influences was Mick Goodrick. He told me that the things that shaped his sound working with Gary was a love for rock (Elvis), Jim Hall's emphasis on linear lyric line and space, and everyone at the time was embracing the scale based approach John McLaughlin was getting from Indian influenced music. So it was a very exploratory time and it spoke to a time and sound of the day.
It just so happened that for an entire generation, that particular mix that became the musical soup that was a fusion of styles was appealing and it had a listenability that didn't require one to even know what improvisation was. Pat's gift was a lyric singable style that drew from midwestern country as much as it did Jim Hall's.
It was his own take on what it meant to create in real time and be true to himself.
It's like he, and many others at the time, sought to create a sound that didn't exist. It was the generation after him that made him into an icon.
There used to be black tea from China. That was tea. Then people found green tea, smoky Lapsong, spicy chai, roibous, camomille, and coffee from roasted beans.
There's no end to what other people love and say is good, but if something is not your cup of tea, don't drink it. Don't even pick the cup up.
Drink what you like, play what you play and love what you make. Life's way to short to let what other people say is good (or right) spoil the time you need in order to practice what you are.
I happen to respect Pat. A lot. But I can't remember the last time I put on one of his recordings. I get quite enough of him each time I walk into a coffee cafe. Not my cup of tea. Why try to like what you don't like? It's not like somebody voted for something and now you have to live by it.
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Yes, but Pat Metheny is a jazz musician....and very active.
Not everyone realizes how technically difficult things he plays on the guitar.
He just has fun playing the guitar and people think it's very simple.
He simply has an unearthly talent.
ps...
I read somewhere that Pat was influenced by Wes Montgomery/he listened to his records a lot/.
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PM has said in multiple interviews that he essentially learned the aesthetic of playing jazz guitar from Smoking at the Half Note.
If you listen to Phase Dance on his first PMG quartet album, you will even hear that he uses some of Wes's structuring of solos: starting with single lines, going to double stops and octaves, going to chords and then back to the head. It's beautifully effective; that is one of my favorite solos that he has played on any of his records.
But Pat has also said that he realized it was disrespectful to the memory of Wes Montgomery to play like him, and that he needed to find his own thing. And clearly he did.
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I wish my problem was that I sounded too much like Wes…
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I adore PM for all of his incredible talents. Fascinating artist. At the same time a lot of his music is beyond me.
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Love all of Pat's albums--can't think of a "bad" album he's made. He's danced through so many phases.
(See what I did there...)
His first 5-6 albums were taking the Gary Burton esthetic and running with it. And backing Joni Mitchell. He learned a lot from his collaborators especially Jaco Pastorius and Lyle Mays.
In the 80s he moved into world music and more of an artificial sound with his guitar synths. And added Brazilian-influenced vocalese.
Then he started writing long-form pieces like As Falls.
Then he started collaborating with everyone and his brother. (Can't recall any sisters offhand except for Joni.)
Then he kind of reinvented his older stuff by doing variations on Offramp with different bands (including Brad Mehldau and Cuong Vu).
Then he got into the baritone guitar and Orchestrion stuff.
His most recent stuff is IMO as good as anything he's ever done, maybe better. The live album Sideway NYC was unbelievable (and unbelievable that no bass player was involved), and his long-form from this place From This Place is a personal fave that I keep binging because I keep finding something new in it everytime I listen.
Dude is a national treasure. And still has his own hair. He made the world a safe place for horizontal stripes.
BTW, some of the albums mentioned above were not 80s, they were 70s:
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Another Freeform solo guitar thing
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