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Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny is one of the most renowned artists of his generation. Across nearly 50 years, the endlessly creative Metheny has released 11 solo albums, 13 albums with his band The Pat Metheny Group, four live albums, and four compilation albums, and has won a whopping 20 Grammys. Specializing in contemporary jazz, Latin jazz, and jazz fusion, Metheny is the only person in history to win Grammys in 12 different categories.
Born in 1954 in Lee Falls, Missouri, Metheny (who is the younger brother of trumpeter Mike Metheny), began playing guitar at age 12. As a teenager, he taught at the University of Miami and Berklee College of Music and made his recording debut in 1974 with Paul Bley and Jaco Pastorius.
In the mid '70s, Metheny played in Gary Burton's group, where he met keyboardist Lyle Mays. The two ended up forming The Pat Metheny Group with bassist Mark Egan and drummer Dan Gottlieb. A risk-taking jazz player, Metheny's 1980 album 80/81 featured avant-garde tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman and 15-time-Grammy-winning jazz saxophonist/composer Michael Brecker. A few years later, Metheny formed a trio with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins; and 1985 saw the release of Song X with his jazz hero Ornette Coleman. Around this time, Metheny also collaborated with Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Roy Haynes, and Joshua Redman.
In the '90s, Metheny leaned into his experimental side even further with the noise-driven Zero Tolerance For Silence (1994). That same year, he also made his Blue Note Records debut with John Scofield on I Can See Your House From Here. The following year, Metheny and his band released We Live Here. Prolific as ever, Metheny released 1996's Quartet and his score for the film Passaggio Per Il Paradiso.
In 1997, Metheny and bassist Charlie Haden recorded an acoustic album as a duo called Beyond The Missouri Sky (Short Stories). Soon after, The Pat Metheny Group released the album Imaginary Day. In the late '90s, Metheny did a duet album with Jim Hall and scored Warner Bros.' A Map Of The World.
Moving into the 21st century, Metheny and his band released 2002's Speaking Of Now, 2003's acoustic solo album One Quiet Night, and got the group back together for 2005's Way Up. In 2006, Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau released their joint album, Metheny Mehldau, and followed it up with 2008's Day Trip.
Into the 2010s, Metheny remained as prolific as ever, releasing 2010's Orchestrion, which, via the use of a MIDI-powered "robot" orchestra, Sound On Sound declared "an unparalleled technological feat." In 2011, Metheny released a solo acoustic album, What's It All About, featuring covers of contemporary pop performers such as Paul Simon and John Lennon, among others. What's It All About won a Grammy for Best New Age Album. In 2012, Metheny teamed up with saxophonist Chris Potter, drummer Antonio Sánchez, and bassist Ben Williams to release Unity Band, which won Best Jazz Instrumental album at the Grammys in 2013.
In spring 2013, Metheny reimagined works from John Zorn's Masada Book Two with Tap: Book of Angels Volume 20. All the while, his Unity Group continued touring and went back into the studio, releasing Kin in February 2014. The next year, Metheny paid tribute to the famed bassist Eberhard Weber, who suffered a stroke in 2007 and has not performed live since. Metheny shared the stage with saxophonist Jan Garbarek and vibraphonist Gary Burton, and the tribute, Hommage à Eberhard Weber, was released in September 2015.
In more recent years, Metheny has released 2016's Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny (with trumpeter Cuong Vu) and toured the world for two years as a quartet with Sánchez, Malaysian/Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh, and pianist Gwilym Simcock. Their debut album, From This Place, was released in February 2020.
In 2020, Metheny left longtime label WEA/Nonesuch and joined BMG's Modern Recordings. His 2021 label debut, Road To The Sun, featured Metheny in the composer role; he wrote music for classical guitarist Jason Vieaux and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Also in 2021, Metheny released Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV), which featured a rotating cast of younger musicians, including drummer Marcus Gilmore and keyboardist James Francies.
Encore
Encore 2
Acoustic Medley
Part I - Beyond the Missouri Sky
Part II - What it’s All About
Part III - Baritone Guitar
Part IV - New Album
Part V - Orchestrion
Encore
Encore 2
It was an incredible concert showcasing an amazing musical and technical accomplishment by Pat Matheney! I am still shaking my head trying to fully understand how he managed to pull this all together. Fascinating!!!!
A True Genius!! How he made a mechanical band sound natural, I will never know!!!
Pat has done it again! Fantastic concert last night at Massey Hall. Simply outstanding!
The only criticism of this show is that it was midied automation, not real musicians. But hey, that's what this gig was about. I'm sure Lyle will be back on the next loop. In the mean time Metheny shows his multitasking mastry of the guitar in all it's forms. I would have liked a little more explanation of what was going on. About 1/3 seemed to be real time layering of instruments and the other 2/3 had been midi-tracked in advance. Great music form the mad scientist in his on stage lab. The sound at Massey was great as usual. I'm not sure if that came from the Bose setup on stage or if those were just Pat's monitors. Great show.
Pat continues to expand his great love for Jazz inovation. oustanding performance , mixing old with new in a very unique way. loved it. thx Pat
It's unlikely Pat will tour this event again so if you can see it go do it. Pat of course is magic but he makes magic happen all around him in this intimate presentation of an apparent life long passion to meld the very old with the very new.
I have seen Pat Metheny many times over the years in different formats. I have seen him with his full band or Pat Metheny Group and I have seen him in a trio setting. He has also done solo guitar works and duets with bassist Charlie Haden. This concert which is called the Orchestrion Tour is just him and a whole load of gadgets which are real instruments that are programmed but are not computerized. You can compare it to a modern day player piano which he explained at the show and is also on the liner notes of the CD. Out of all the times I have seen him this is probably the best one he has ever done. I had no idea how this Orchestrion show would be and I thought he would only be limited to certain numbers. He was not limited at all for he started of with a few solo acoustic guitar works on different guitars, such as the Pikasso 42 string guitar built by Toronto luthier Linda Manzer, and then proceeded to the whole album. He also did works on other albums that normally would involve his group but he did it with those gadgets. He frequently acknowledged those things as if it were actual group members which I found amusing. Overall this was just an amazing show and Metheny is just a genius when it comes to music and the guitar. He has been recording and performing since 1975 when he was just 21 and he shows no signs of slowing down or being content on just being a great jazz guitarist. He also has not aged very much over that time for he still has that thick long hair that most men his age or even younger wish they still had. I am definitely waiting for the next time he comes around and see what he brings. Excellent show and I bought the CD, a shirt and a guitar strap as well.
Good: Excellent player, contiuously played for 2hr40mins before the show came to an end. Interesting setup (orchestron). (*been a faithful Pat Metheny follower for over 26 yrs, still luvs him and his songs) Bad: audio suck big time! Sound was absolutely terrible: boomy, overloaded (I believe it got beyond 104dB+ at certain musical passages even though I was sitting in the middle of Row D on dress circle 2. I managed to get by with a pair of ear plugs that took -20dB off of the sound pressure, and still sounded muffled/bloated and absolutely horrendous.. (sound stage/sound engineer should sent to the firing squat) As an hi-end audio enthusiast, I seriously question the aural conditions of the sound engineers who helped set up the stage sound and the sound re-enforcement part (absolutely terrible, 2 thumbs way down!!!!!). This is not the 1st time I experienced such terrible audio settings before (had the same problem with John Scofield at the center the last time w/ my wifey, same shxt!). Suggestions: if they can lower the sound re-inforcements part to around 90s dB for most people, that would be perfect. One doesn't have to be in the middle of a rock band in order to listen to Pat Metheny, or John Scofield, you know what I mean! Besides, I have very sensitive hearing and I'd rather keep my hearing (thank you very much)
Pat Metheny is definitely in a league of his own along with Larry Carlton and a few others. Was not quite sure about the Pop Techno backup - it was OK but I prefer a band. However, that being said - how can you not appreciate Pat Methenys talent!!
I was ready for his trademark virtuosity and perhaps something different, as he can be on the edge. This mechanical, cold, programmed self-serving opus was a monstrosity of crap.
I didn't know what to expect because I've seen the Pat Metheny Group in concert and that was amazing. As I listened to the electronic replication of the Group I wondered if this experiment is less costly than bringing live players/singers along? To tell the truth, though, despite the genius of the new experiment, I still long for the real mccoy, the Group itself. It was good that he explained how the other instruments worked, but I was still left a bit confused. It seemed he was controlling all the instruments perhaps with a combination of foot pedals and perhaps controls on his guitars. In the beginning I assumed there was a master computer with set configurations of the tunes he was playing and he would play over the orchestra live with his guitar, but I'm not sure if that's so. He's extremely gifted and talented if he controlled it all! He played a couple of tunes just to explain and show us how the experiment worked, but I'd suggest he do that all in one number rather than 2 or 3 numbers - that wasn't the best part of the show.
Pat Metheny provided one of the most amazing artistic pieces ever. This was not just music, this was the genuine expression of an Artist, with capital A. His genius was at full strenght here, with this crazy idea of reproducing on stage the equivalent of a recording studio, by using overdubs live through his guitar and pedals. My wife does not like Jazz, does not truly appreciate solo guitarists, but she came out with a huge WOW stamped on her face. I have seen Pat Metheny 25 years ago, his unique trademarks are still there, but his evolution as a full fledged artist is something that caught me by surprise. Unbelievable!
I have seen Pat several times and this concert was my least favourite. It was interesting but I prefer to see a live orchestra, that is what makes a concert come alive. The audience loved it and as always he got a standing ovation.
The show opened with a couple of acoustic songs which were beautiful but I thought it was going to be a slow night. By the 3rd song I could hear a few other instruments in Pat's playing, then the curtain was lifted to reveal the entire orchestrion. What an awesome site, individual drums and cymbals, percussion instruments, bass guitar and acoustic guitar, along with the piano, marimba, vibraphones,bottles, that were already visible on stage. These were all triggered by Pat's guitar or by pedals which resulted in fabulous music that sounded almost like the Pat Metheny Group was actually playing. It was truly amazing to see and hear the written and improvised pieces with the orchestrion, all played by Pat. What a musician!
As the lights of the stage dropped nobody knew what was ahead of them. A remarkable night of of a young man's dream turning a thought into reality. In our world of computer technique and vision Pat Metheny added his delicate methods of stringing his 6 or more guitars to the actual phyiscal stamina of playing a one man show for over 2 2/2 hours, This was one of the most unique evenings in years.
What can I say? Pat Metheny NEVER disappoints. He is the perfect musician. He is an amazing original guitarist w/ incredible tone & chops. A brilliant composer who's always pushing forward & creating & exploring new avenues & one hell of a live player to boot. He really is THE perfect musician. I've see him play every time he's been to Vancouver since the late 80s & he has never done anything but a superb show & last night's gig was no different.
Metheny forgot that his music in the past has been characterized by melody as well as harmony and rhythm. His orchestrion was too biased towards rhythm so that the music often verged almost on a 'wall of noise'. The result was too much 'sameness'. We sure missed the personal touch of Lyle Mays.
Not the same calibre as past Metheny concerts. Would have been better as a demonstration at science center. He really needs his live group with him.
