The music of Pat Metheny....
Apr. 6th, 2012 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1So I've been listening to a lot of the Pat Metheny Group -- and Pat's solo work -- this past week. It's my favorite music for long-distance drives and traveling. I don't have all his CDs, but I'm working on it.
How did I first hear about him? In 1978 or 1979, there was a series of films I saw in high school science class called "The Search For Solutions". And the theme music the used in the opening credits was by the Pat Metheny Group. (The song they used was called "The Search", from the "American Garage" album. How appropriate.)
Flash forward to 1984. A new radio station in town, with the call letters of WRXT, and a free-form play list, played Pat's solo guitar song, "New Chautauqua", from the album of the same name. I loved the song so much that I just had to get my own copy. And so I went off in search of his albums.
Over the years, he's been a pioneer and a trailblazer. He started off playing trumpet, and switched to guitar a few years later. He's also taught at prestigious music schools such as the University of Miami and the Berklee School of Music, and did so at a very young age (late teens). He was one of the first guitarists (that I know of) to experiment with guitar synthesizers, and the myriad sonic possibilities available through them. And he uses the various guitar sounds for different effects, much like a painter would use different colors on a pallette to create a painting. Some of the guitars he uses are quite distinctive and unique. Perhaps the most unique is the 42-string Pikasso guitar that Canadian luthier Linda Manzer built for him.
And sometimes, he's outspoken and opinionated. Years ago, Metheny ripped Kenny G a new one, after Kenny G released his version of the Louis Armstrong classic, "What A Wonderful World", with Kenny G playing along with ths song via an overdub.
I don't know much about his personal life, and I don't need to. It doesn't matter to me. I do know that he travels a lot, performing for audiences all around the world.
I got to see him live in 1997, during the "Imaginary Day" tour, which had a stop at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, Ohio. And I hope I can see him in concert again.
How did I first hear about him? In 1978 or 1979, there was a series of films I saw in high school science class called "The Search For Solutions". And the theme music the used in the opening credits was by the Pat Metheny Group. (The song they used was called "The Search", from the "American Garage" album. How appropriate.)
Flash forward to 1984. A new radio station in town, with the call letters of WRXT, and a free-form play list, played Pat's solo guitar song, "New Chautauqua", from the album of the same name. I loved the song so much that I just had to get my own copy. And so I went off in search of his albums.
Over the years, he's been a pioneer and a trailblazer. He started off playing trumpet, and switched to guitar a few years later. He's also taught at prestigious music schools such as the University of Miami and the Berklee School of Music, and did so at a very young age (late teens). He was one of the first guitarists (that I know of) to experiment with guitar synthesizers, and the myriad sonic possibilities available through them. And he uses the various guitar sounds for different effects, much like a painter would use different colors on a pallette to create a painting. Some of the guitars he uses are quite distinctive and unique. Perhaps the most unique is the 42-string Pikasso guitar that Canadian luthier Linda Manzer built for him.
And sometimes, he's outspoken and opinionated. Years ago, Metheny ripped Kenny G a new one, after Kenny G released his version of the Louis Armstrong classic, "What A Wonderful World", with Kenny G playing along with ths song via an overdub.
I don't know much about his personal life, and I don't need to. It doesn't matter to me. I do know that he travels a lot, performing for audiences all around the world.
I got to see him live in 1997, during the "Imaginary Day" tour, which had a stop at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, Ohio. And I hope I can see him in concert again.
