Jazz Articles about Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny: One Quiet Night

by Eddie Becton
July 25, 2003

Pat Metheny, one of the most versatile guitarists of the day, demonstrates once again his penchant for harmonic richness, even minus a full band. This is another of Metheny's solo projects, the last being New Chautauqua, an underrated gem. One Quiet Night finds Metheny returning to his Lee's Summit, Missouri roots, where he was influenced by the likes of Miles Davis and a host of jazz and European classical musicians.

The title track begins quietly and then moves into a ...

Pat Metheny: One Quiet Night

by Farrell Lowe
June 25, 2003

A rich legacy of artists have found it in themselves to trust their inner voice enough to record profoundly intimate music and share it with the world. Bill Evans' Conversations With Myself, Anthony Braxton's For Alto, John McLaughlin's My Goals Beyond, Bill Frisell's Ghost Town, and Keith Jarrett's Spirits all come to mind in this context.

One Quiet Night is Pat Metheny's third contribution to that legacy. His first foray into solo ground came with his 1979 album New Chautauqua, ...

"One Quiet Night" with Pat Metheny

by Gregory J. Robb
April 19, 2003

The latest offering from contemporary jazz guitarist Pat Metheny will again put him front and center. Pat Metheny: One Quiet Night (released by Warner Jazz) will feature Metheny on baritone guitar.One Quiet Night is the result of Metheny's solo explorations in one evening of November, 2001. The native of Lee's Summit, Missouri set up a microphone in his home studio and began to play some of his favorite songs with what Metheny describes as a “Nashville" tune.

Pat Metheny Group: Speaking of Now

by Jeff Libman
March 1, 2002

Speaking of Now is burdened by following what may have been the Pat Metheny Group's most creative and exemplary album, Imaginary Day. For the first time in almost 20 years, there is a change in the band's core membership. Gone is Paul Wertico and his crystalline ride cymbal work, as integral to the Metheny sound as the guitarist's own round, ghostly tone. The versatile young Antonio Sanchez takes his place and performs admirably; he doesn't strive to redefine the band's ...

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 ...