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THE STRINGS OF PAT METHENY << back l page 2
But while attaining popularity as a musician is one thing, it’s another thing to receive the kind of acclaim Pat Metheny has garnered from critics, peers and plain old music lovers. Over the years, with his lyric guitar play, Metheny has won numerous Grammies, spread out over a variety of different categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Best Instrumental Composition. He has also won countless polls as “Best Jazz Guitarist” and awards, including three gold records for (Still Life) Talking, Letter from Home, and Secret Story.
Since his 1975 debut Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny has continually found ways break barriers in music and to bridge the gap between jazz and rock music in the same way that Miles Davis did in the late 60s and early 70s as the influential, 14-time Grammy Award-winning guitarist Pat Metheny has spent more than a quarter century forging an instantly identifiable sound. In 1980, Metheney received his first Grammy Award Nomination for Best Jazz Performance - Vocal or Instrumental for American Garage. The following year, 1981, he was once again nominated for a Grammy for Best Jazz Performance and Best Instrumental Composition title track As Falls Wichita - So Falls Wichita Falls. 1982 and 1983 saw the Pat Metheny Group’s Offramp and Travels, respectively, walk off with the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance. 1984’s First Circle showed a greater leaning towards Latin-based music, though still retained Metheny's brilliant ear for melody. It won a Grammy for Best Jazz-Fusion Recording for Vocal or Instrumental. In 1985, Metheny composed the score for the movie The Falcon And The Snowman. Not only did this lead to him recording "This Is Not America" with David Bowie, but the song also ended up in the UK Top 20/US Top 40 hit, bringing Metheny many new admirers. That same year, with free-jazz exponent Ornette Coleman, Metheney produced Song X, described by the general consensus to be “unlistenable.” A year later, the Pat Metheny Group once again bagged another Grammy this time for Best Jazz Fusion Performance - Vocal or Instrumental – for Still Life (Talking). Two years later, though still experimenting with Latin melody and rhythm, Metheny returned to more familiar ground with Still Life (Talking) and Letter From Home (1989), which won a Grammy for Best Jazz Fusion Performance. Moving into the 90’s, Metheny’s Secret Story, one of his emotionally rich works as a composer, is a breathtakingly beautiful album that was a realization of all his musical influences that also won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Jazz Performance. Surprisingly, Metheny followed up this introspective album, with a thrash metal outing album in Zero Tolerance For Silence. Returning to more traditional ground with We Live Here, which won a Grammy in 1996 for the best contemporary jazz album, Metheny was back at the top of the jazz charts. The subtle, sublime collaboration finds bassist Charlie Haden and guitarist Pat Metheny in Beyond The Missouri Sky (1996) earned them a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance in 1997. In 1998, the Pat Metheny Group once again received a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance for Imaginary Day (1997), followed by Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, 1999, for Like Minds. In the late 90s, together with with Haden and Jim Hall, Metheny recorded acclaimed duet albums. The album, A Map Of The World a series of 28 pieces inspired by the motion picture A Map Of The World, where Metheny's dexterity as a guitarist takes second place to his brilliance as a composer. Among the other numerous film scores Metheny has composed include The Taste of Others (2001) and Passaggio Per Il Paradiso (1997) where Metheny composed and performed all of the music for this emotional and introspective film directed by Antonio Baiocco. His latest solo acoustic album, One Quiet Night, which features Metheny performing alone, continues to challenge the musical boundaries of his audience. In 2000, Metheny’s (Go) Get It won Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. Recently, the 2003 Grammys say the Pat Metheny Group walk away with a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for "Speaking of Now."
Whew! And that was just a gist of the albums he’s done and the awards he has garnered as a musician. At the rate he’s going now despite his age (he’s 50), it doesn’t look as if this jazz master would be retiring anytime soon. After all, while some people do music for fame, and others do it for fortune, there are those exceptional people like Pat Metheny who do it because it runs in their blood. 28 years ago, Pat Metheny started out as a fresh young musician then who was changing the concept and the audience of and for jazz in the world. Moving easily among varied musical settings – traditional jazz trios, post-bop experimental jazz and jazz-rock fusion, to name a few, Pat Metheny, seemingly bent on blurring and obliterating stylistic boundaries at every opportunity, has always defied description, appealing to a broad audience with a sound that crosses a wide-ranging spectrum of musical idioms. A chance-taking player who has gained great popularity but also taken some wild left turns, Pat Metheny – virtuoso guitarist, multi-faceted composer, innovative producer and guitar synthesizer pioneer – with his insatiable musical intelligence, seemingly unflagging energy and passion for experimentation, will definitely continue to be one of the brightest stars of the jazz community.
© Valerie V. Mayuga, 2005
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