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Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny is an NEA Jazz Master

Pat Metheny was born in Kansas City on August 12, 1954 into a musical family. Starting on trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age. Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, the young Missouri native already displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility - a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional "jazz guitar" sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument. METHENY'S versatility is almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie.  Metheny's body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.

As well as being an accomplished musician, Metheny has also participated in the academic arena as a music educator. At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. At 19, he became the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he also received an honorary doctorate more than twenty years later (1996). He has also taught music workshops all over the world, from the Dutch Royal Conservatory to the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz to clinics in Asia and South America. He has also been a true musical pioneer in the realm of electronic music, and was one of the very first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. Years before the invention of MIDI technology, Metheny was using the Synclavier as a composing tool. He has also been instrumental in the development of several new kinds of guitars such as the soprano acoustic guitar, the 42-string Pikasso guitar, Ibanez's PM-100 jazz guitar, and a variety of other custom instruments.  He took the whole instrument development process into a different level with his mechanical, solenoid driven Orchestrion.

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Tags

Gary Burton
vibraphone
Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto
John Coltrane
saxophone
Miles Davis
trumpet
Jim Hall
guitar
Milton Nascimento
guitar and vocals
Steve Reich
composer / conductor
The Beatles
band / orchestra
B.D. Lenz
guitar
Jerry Tachoir
vibraphone
Jake Hanlon
guitar
Kevin Hart
vibraphone
Frank Macchia
composer / conductor
Greg Diamond
guitar, electric
Brian Tarquin
guitar, electric
Bryan White
bass, acoustic
Jim Head
guitar
Jeff Perry
guitar
Lee Barbour
guitar
Lili Añel
voice / vocals
Yuval Ron
guitar, electric
Martin Fabricius
vibraphone
Matt Snyder
clarinet
Oscar Penas
guitar
Ron Jackson
guitar
Marco Pacassoni
vibraphone
Shirley Crabbe
voice / vocals
ESP
band / orchestra
Ricardo Pinheiro
guitar, electric
Phil Traynor
bass, electric
Dave Howard
guitar, electric
Dave Clark
guitar
Journeys
band / orchestra
Pepa Niebla
voice / vocals
Niebla
voice / vocals
Rotem Sivan
guitar
Majamisty TriO
band / orchestra
Thomas Dahl
guitar
Charlie Hoats
bass, electric
Joe Dyson
drums
Bancroft And Lyne
voice / vocals
Paul Colombo
guitar, electric
Ron Carlson
guitar
Myles Brown
guitar
Daniel Villa Verde
guitar, acoustic
Jorge Garcia
guitar, electric
Marcos Milagres
bass, acoustic
Walt Pitts
guitar and vocals
Alex Hahn
saxophone, alto
LJ Folk
guitar and vocals
Zsolt Bende
guitar, electric
PC ENERGETIC
band / orchestra
PLS.trio
piano
Benjamin Boone
saxophone
Jukka Haavisto
bass, electric
Mishko M'ba
bass, electric
Chris Trinidad
multi-instrumentalist
Under The Lake
keyboards
Jayson Tipp
keyboards
Reza Khan
guitar
Pavel Jany
guitar
Nick Lombardelli
multi-instrumentalist
LILLY
voice / vocals
Gregg Fine
guitar
Jay Reed
guitar
Viktor Haraszti
saxophone
Martin Fabricius Trio
band / orchestra
Lisipi
piano
John Irvine
guitar
Lizzi Trumbore
voice / vocals
J.Cordes
guitar, acoustic
The Beat Freaks
guitar, electric
Rea Meir
woodwinds
THREE WISE MONKEYS
guitar, steel
Arcangelo Pezzella
guitar, electric
AP Project
band / orchestra
Luis Casado
guitar
Sophia Smith
saxophone
Max Walker
guitar
LP And The Vinyl
voice / vocals
Denin Koch
guitar, electric
Stuart Redd
guitar
Paco Reinaldet
saxophone, soprano
LITANGEN
guitar
SM Shahbaj
multi-instrumentalist
Jonatan Piña Duluc
saxophone, tenor
Johan Grim
guitar
Dom Angelo Mongiovi
guitar, electric
Denis Krupin
various
Efrat Alony
voice / vocals
Alony
voice / vocals
Brian Eaton
multi-instrumentalist
Organ Fairchild
organ, Hammond B3
Sebastien Pittet
bass, electric
Oli Astral
guitar
Jerry Tabor
guitar
TriTone Asylum
producer
Jack Taylor
guitar
Thomas J Wassell
guitar, electric
Brian Grace
saxophone
Art Boffi
guitar
Yulia
piano
Rob Ames
saxophone, soprano
Jazz'on Parma Orchestra
band / orchestra
Joby
author
Andrew Ginzel
guitar, electric
Zock Organ Trio
band / orchestra
Ron Bosse
guitar

Photos

Concert Schedule

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Album Discography

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Road to the Sun

Modern Recordings
2021

buy

From This Place

Nonesuch Records
2019

buy

The Unity Sessions

Nonesuch Records
2016

buy

The Unity Sessions

Eagle Eye Media
2015

buy

Eberhard Weber:...

ECM Records
2015

buy

Kin (←→)

Nonesuch Records
2014

buy

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