One of the most prominent figures in Jazz of the last forty years is the guitarist Pat Metheny, an artist who has won numerous Grammy awards and even a Goya.
This musical genius has also played with great Jazz artists and other genres, such as David Bowie and Herbie Hancock among many others, and his great creativity has led him to make numerous and varied compositions, that we can find everything from pieces for great orchestras, for solo guitars, or even for acoustic and electric instruments.
Pat Metheny's music is characterized above all by sounds ranging from Jazz to Rock, whether these are classic or modern. A genius who was one of the first jazz musicians to use synthesizers as just another instrument. He also has a wide variety of instruments that have been customized for him, among which his famous 42-string Pikasso guitar stands out.
You cannot miss the fantastic story of Pat Metheny, how his first steps in music were, his development as an artist, his record work, his worldwide fame, etc. Discover this genius of contemporary music in this article in which we will also listen to some of his greatest hits, and several songs from his latest work.
Pat Metheny, from child prodigy to jazz genius
The one who today is considered one of the greatest geniuses of contemporary music, Pat Metheny, came into this world in 1954. He is currently 66 years old, and we could say that he has been a musician all his life since his first contact made it already in childhood.
Surely his family, already knew that he would go far, a family, by the way, in which his brother played the trumpet. The little boy prodigy, influenced by his brother, began to learn jazz music, and at just twelve years old he began to play the guitar.
He began studying with great Jazz guitarists and soon became a six-string virtuoso by demonstrating his mastery of complex techniques, and his great speed in playing. When he was just a teenager, he gets a scholarship to continue studying, and later they give him another one that allows him to continue studying at the University.
This is how he became, at just 19 years old, one of the youngest professors at the Berklee School of Music, an academy where he had two students who would later also become great guitarists, Mike Stern, and Al Di Meola.
It is during this period that Pat Metheny befriended Gary Burton, a musician who was closely connected to Swing, Blues, and Old School Jazz. He then decides to share his musical ideas with him, and after joining Paul Bley, Bruce Ditmas, and Jaco Pastorius, they edit what would be his first album, Bright Size Life, an instrumental album in which we find guitars with a renewed jazz sound.
Pat Metheny has always been a restless musician who has always liked to investigate new sounds and experiment with them. To record this work, he relied on Lyle Mays, and after the experience and work they had shared, Pat decided to form a new group with him, which he would call the Pat Metheny Group.
Both the band and their sound were quite a revolution in the Jazz scene, since this type of Jazz had never been heard before, it was very innovative and attractive due to its complex fusion between Folk and Jazz. Great works from this period stand out, such as First Circle or Still Life (Talking), works with which Pat Metheny began to be recognized on the jazz scene.
After ending his relationship with the record label he was with, he went on to work for others, although he finally signed for a label oriented to other genres such as Rock or Pop. The 80s and the production of Pat Metheny is the one that definitely marks his artistic consolidation.
But Pat Metheny not only dedicated his creativity and passion for music to the Pat Metheny Group, you know that geniuses tend to be quite restless, and, of course, Pat was not going to be less. It seemed that this formation was not enough for him, and he formed another of his great projects. On this occasion, the formation would have a different format than the one that Pat Metheny would call Trio, a formation also very productive in terms of records, among which we can highlight Rejoicing (1983), Trio 99-00 (2000) or Day Trip (2008). among others.
The artist made records like cakes, and when he wasn't composing songs for one of his projects, he composed them for his solo project, Pat Metheny, just like that. The maestro here has also expatiated on the productivity of records, among which we can mention Secret Story, considered one of the best, Ochestrion, or one of the latest works published, From This Place.
One of the latest projects of this Jazz genius is another band format called the Pat Metheny Unity Band. In this band, Pat has one of the musicians from his other project Pat Metheny Group, but also other instrumentalists and musicians such as Ben Williams, Chris Potter, and Giulio Carmassi. You will also find several published works on this project such as The Unity Sessions, Kin, and Unity Band.
And if all this seemed little to you, Pat Metheny not only dedicates his time and creativity to all these formations, but he has also participated in the composition of several soundtracks, such as Under Fire (translated in Spain as Bajo fuego), Passaggio Per Il Paradiso or Living is easy with your eyes closed.
For the latter (by the way, a Spanish film by David Trueba), Pat Metheny composed the entire soundtrack together with Charlie Haden on double bass and won the Goya for Best Original Score.
We don't know how but, in addition to all this, Pat Metheny found time to record other works with other artists. You can see that he is truly a restless musician.
