Jazz Articles about Pat Metheny

David Liebman: The Elements: Water

by Jim Santella
March 1, 1999

Influenced by John Coltrane, Lennie Tristano, and Charles Lloyd, then having interned with Elvin Jones and Miles Davis, saxophonist Dave Liebman has a lot to draw from when he sits down at the piano to compose. More about the session’s leader may be found at www.arkadiarecords.com . This album is just the first of four jazz suites to be created by Liebman; music that wakes up the listener’s imagination and successfully folds in modern mainstream jazz with tone poem imagery. ...

David Liebman: The Elements: Water

by Jack Bowers
February 1, 1999

Water, the first of four Jazz suites by Dave Liebman inspired by the elements (Earth, Air and Fire are to follow) is designed to evoke images of water in its many forms and guises, from tranquil to chaotic, rivulet to ocean, droplet to deluge. Does it achieve its purpose? Perhaps so. But others will have to make that assessment. I’ve always had trouble with tone poems, classical or any other kind. Even with program in hand, they usually sound like ...

Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny: Beyond the Missouri Sky

by Dave Hughes
December 1, 1997

Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny, both Missouri natives and best friends, join forces for a mostly acoustic duet album. All of the tunes were recorded as duets for acoustic bass and guitar, and on roughly half of the tunes, Metheny overdubbed some “orchestral" backgrounds on synclavier or an additional acoustic guitar part. But these additions simply add texture and shading, and do not overplay the primary voices of the bass and guitar.

Sytlistically, this album is a departure for both ...

Pat Metheny / Charlie Haden: Beyond the Missouri Sky (Short Stories)

by Robert Middleton
November 1, 1997

On my first listen or two this album seemed at best to be pleasant background music. And it can certainly can be that. It's languid, relaxed melodies don't demand that you take special notice. Perfect music for a quite evening at home or a slow Sunday afternoon. But if that's all you got it would be a shame indeed. This is a very sweet collaboration between two musicians who love and respect each other and each other's music. Drawing from ...

Pat Metheny Group: Imaginary Day

by A. G. Gillis
November 1, 1997

One of the first things remarkably noticeable about The Pat Metheny Group's 12th album together is the artwork. Over a number of their albums together, The Pat Metheny Group has made an evolution out of their 'glyph imagery' and I would suppose it is only symbolic of the new recording released on October 7, by the Warner Brothers Record Company. As a note on the glyphs, I have taken the liberty of associating the characters to letters from the alphabet ...

Pat Metheny Group: Pat Metheny Group

by AAJ Staff
February 1, 1997

This album stands out from the others I've reviewed to date (for a number of reasons). I've been a Metheny fan my entire life, but had never thought of his work as groove oriented (except for the relatively recent commercially-successful release). But, I was wrong. I recently became more attuned to grooves through a playing experience and it opened my ears to hearing grooves better. When I put this album on recently after a long time since I had listened ...