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SONG LIST*
M1 Bright Size Life (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (4:55)
M2 Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)
M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:38)
M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)
M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), Still Life, Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (6:24)
M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life, Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38)
Pat Metheny is an American guitarist and composer. He has worked as a soloist, in duets and small jazz ensembles, and, for decades, with the Pat Metheny Group. His musical styles include Jazz Fusion, Jazz (both progressive and contemporary jazz) …..and also Latin Jazz. He was born in Lee’s Summit, Missouri in 1954. Lee’s Summit is a suburb on the southeast side of Kansas City.
His main influences have been other musicians, his musical family and the British Invasion.
- Musicians influencing Metheny include trumpeter Miles Davis, Gary Burton on vibes, jazz guitarists Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery and Jazz Sax players John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. PAUSE
- A major foundational influence for Metheny is his musical family. His father played trumpet, his brother Mike Metheny plays jazz trumpet, and Pat’s maternal grandfather was a professional trumpeter. Brother Mike taught Pat how to play the trumpet, and so trumpet is actually Pat Metheny’s first Musicians in the family. Metheny attributes his early success to the local musical environment he was brought up in – the years 1964-1972, in Kansas City. Much of this is described in his biography titled BENEATH MISSOURI SKIES. Seems like Metheny is destined to become a great trumpeter, with all that musical environment…. PAUSE
- .. there was a bump in the road at age 10. The BRITISH INVASION was in full force. Metheny saw the Beatles perform on TV in 1964, probably the Ed Sullivan Show, because that year the Beatles appeared. The Beatles are what inspired Metheny to defect from Trumpet to Guitar.
Metheny persuaded his father to buy him a guitar for his 12th birthday. That first guitar was a Gibson ES-140. PAUSE
That’s a hollow-body guitar, built in ¾ scale for young players and small hands. It’s a scale model of the Gibson ES-175 hollow body. Metheny soon got bigger hands and acquired a Gibson ES-175 …and that guitar is featured on his early albums like those in this podcast episode… Metheny started playing in pizza parlors at age fourteen (that’s 1968). At age 15, Metheny won a scholarship from Down Beat Magazine to attend a jazz camp (1969). That camp led to a meeting with Jazz guitarist Jim Hall, and bassist Ron Carter. So, by the time he graduated from high school (1972) he was the first-call guitarist for Kansas City jazz clubs, private clubs, and jazz festivals. Metheny had A LOT of support from his musical environment. Even though he switched from trumpet to guitar.
Metheny briefly attended college at U of Miami in Florida, but quickly realized after practicing on guitar for years all day long… he was unprepared for a college program … He realized then he was first and foremost, a serious guitarist and composer.
Metheny moved to Boston to teach at Berklee College of Music at the age of 19, where he met Jazz Vibraphonist Gary Burton. Teaching Jazz Theory and Performance was in demand.
BIT BUCKET
and for those not familiar, the ES-175 is sought-after by jazz country and rock guitarists – – – these vintage guitars today sell for $3,000 to $25,000. Back in the day, made in Kalamazoo MI. How about that for your first guitar? I am jealous, my first guitar was a Kay (named after John Kay) and it was … a very basic and cheap and crude electric starter guitar. Metheny, on the other hand, got a wonderful instrument, because
There have been many collaborations with Metheny and Burton over the decades since then.
that guitar was retired 20 years later- – in 1995.
M1 Bright Size Life (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (4:55)
Metheny released his debut album, Bright Size Life (ECM, 1976), with Jaco Pastorius on electric bass guitar and Bob Moses on drums. This is a studio album, recorded in Ludwigsburg Germany. It is amazing to think that this is a debut album. Released in 1976, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE is still fresh today. In this title song, Metheny begins his work in a signature way, his entrance is unmistakable with a quick ascending line. Many of his solos begin with the signature Metheny sound….and Pastorious presents an equally inmistakable bass guitar part. Here’s that fabulous BRIGHT SIZE LIFE INTRO
SAMPLE Play that intro ascending line with Jaco solid bass line in Bright Size Life
Pastorius and Metheny are weaving together guitar and bass lines in this song. The bass is so much more than a rhythm support role, Pastorius is playing in parallel improvisation with Metheny. Bright Size life sets the table for a fine album of jazz fusion by 22-year old Metheny.
And now, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE, 1976
Play M1
Don’t Touch That Dial
That was M1 BRIGHT SIZE LIFE, 1976
At the time of this recording, Metheny was living in Boston and teaching at the Berklee School of Music. His mentor was Gary Burton, the jazz vibraphonist. They collaborated on the arranging of the songs to be recorded for this album, and Burton attended the recording sessions in Germany. Interesting that Burton did NOT receive a PRODUCER or ARRANGER credit on this album.
Credits
- Pat Metheny – 6-and 12-string electric guitar
- Jaco Pastorius – electric bass
- Bob Moses – drums
BIT BUCKET
PASTORIUS FOR ANOTHER PODCAST !
M2 Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)
Now we review the second track on side 1…. the song is titled SIRABHORN
I attempted to analyze the magical sound of this song and how that never heard before /from another planet sound is structured. Surely it is structured, with a Pastorius bass line and with Bob Moses supplying the heartbeat throughout this song. The song is so difficult to describe in words . A skilled composer named Dr. Guy Shkolnik described SIRABHORN this way:
The beautiful harmony is made of chromatic alterations of pure diatonic harmony and three modulations.
PAUSE
Millions of amateur guitarists, myself included, remain in awe of Metheny. He is a trained musician from childhood, with composition, arrangement and performance skills and teaching skills. His guitar performance is complex and mind-bending. Decades later, his signature sound is imitated but never duplicated.
PAUSE
A little info about the bassist JACO PASTORIUS. The SIRABHORN song features a Jaco electric fretless bass solo and is from the earliest recording of Pastorius. He employed the use of a fretless bass, a 1962 Fender Jazz Bass that he called the Bass of Doom. As a youngster, he had modified the bass by removing the frets (which is outrageous) using a butter knife, then smoothing the gaps on the fretboard. Along with his use of distortion, 2-note power chords, the use of harmonics, and bass solos that sound lyrical…he is regarded today as one of the best electric bassists of all time. Here is an example of a LYRICAL SOUNDING SOLO from Pastorius….
SAMPLE Insert example of a LYRICAL SOLO by Jaco. Suggest Sirabhorn, about 60% into the song a solo that runs 60 seconds. Alternate is the solo in BRIGHT SIZE LIFE song.
What about that equally strange song name? Sirabhorn is named after a jazz guitar student of Metheny’s at Berklee.
And now here is SIRABHORN 1976
PLAY M2
Don’t Touch That Dial
that was M2 Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)
Song credits M2 go to
- Pat Metheny – on a chiming twelve-string guitar with alternate tuning
- Jaco Pastorius – electric bass guitar with lyrical bass solo
- Bob Moses – drums providing the hearbeat of this song
In this same year, Pastorius released his own debut, self-titled, solo album.
BIT BUCKET
Sirabhorn is an alteration of C – Am – F – Dm a common musical theme.
This is altered to become C – B flat m – G flat – E m –
“Sirabhorn” Metheney said that The chiming opening bars have that open, pastoral sound that Metheny has said is rooted in his Missouri upbringing. The vast majority of guitar enthusiasts never get beyond 3-chord popular songs and their evolutions from the 1960s.
M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:38)
I do recall distinctly seeing Metheny TWICE at the Amazingrace, a small speakeasy in Evanston. It was 1977 and I have my tickets from the January show and the August show. This was early in career of Pat Metheny, playing then at a BYOB event in a shell of a building on Chicago Ave. Metheny was 22. Large hair. Large hollow body Gibson guitar. Seeing this kid just nail the songs from the Bright Size Life album drove it home and made Metheny a lifetime favorite jazz guitarist. This kid is for real.
Now the song UNITY VILLAGE. Here we have a deep guitar solo. The song is named after a tiny 100-person village UNITY VILLAGE bordering Kansas City and Lee’s Summit in Missouri. It’s the headquarters for a spiritual movement, the UNITY Movement which “offers positive, practical Christianity” and describes itself as being “for people who might call themselves spiritual but not religious”. The church was a part of the Metheny family history, with his grandfather working there, and both his dad and his brother had played in the church’s Unity Village Band. The song “Unity Village” is back down to earth. Peaceful and pastoral. It has two guitar parts.
- One guitar part plays the changes with bass line.
- The other plays the melody and variations.
There is a head to the song, typical of a contemporary jazz. The song really sounds like a story.
And now
UNITY VILLAGE Pat Metheny 1976
Play M3
DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL
That Was M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny),Bright Size Life, 1976, (3:38)
Credits M3
CREDITS
- Pat Metheny – solo 6-and 12-string electric guitar, and song’s composer
M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)
Now for another of Pat Metheny’s mind-bending masterpieces, UNQUITY ROAD. UNQUITY ROAD starts as a jazz tune opening and closing with the head piece and featuring several rounds of improvisations on is. You will hear Metheny and Pastorius working in parallel and playing off each other throughout the song. This is relatively short one for a Metheny composition, at only 3:36.
Bob Moses delivers powerful rhythm and accent, and again, is the pulse of this song.
Metheny’s composition features a series of rapid chord changes with a three-note motif. It really feels like forward motion. This track also features a full-on Metheny guitar solo, not heard yet on BRIGHT SIZE LIFE album.
And the song title? – Unquity Road is a road in Milton Massachusetts, 10 miles south of Boston and the Berklee College of Music, where Metheny was working at the time of this recording.
And now M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny) 1976
Play M4
DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL
That was M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny),Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)
Credits
- Pat Metheny – 6-and 12-string guitar
- Jaco Pastorius – electric bass guitar
- Bob Moses – drums
PAUSE
- The album BRIGHT SIZE LIFE sold slowly, only 900 copies sold after its first release. That had to be a disappointment. I proudly own one of those LP gems, from that first release in 1976. It was used in this podcast and after 47 years it sounds perfect.
- The Bright Size Life album did achieve #28 on the Billboard JAZZ Albums chart.
- The Life album was recognized by JAZZWISE as one of the 100 Jazz albums that shook the world.
PAUSE
- Jaco Pastorius released his self-titled debut album in 1976. That same year, he became a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 76 to 81….
- Tragically, Pastorius died in 1987 as a result of injuries sustained outside a South Florida nightclub. He was only 35.
BIT BUCKET
none
M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (6:24)
Metheny evolved from a trio to a larger format, The Pat Metheny Group. PMG which was founded by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays in 1978, following the success of BRIGHT SIZE LIFE. In this recording, in addition to the trio of guitar bass and drums, is piano/keyboards, percussion, and three vocalists.
PAUSE
Lyle Mays is on Piano and keyboards. Mays and Metheny composed and arranged nearly all of the Pat Metheny Group’s music. Mays was chief musical architect and sound designer of the group for more than three decades. The album Still Life (Talking) is the fifth studio album by the Pat Metheny Group and was released in mid-1987. This song, SO MAY IT SECRETLY BEGIN, largely due to Lyle Mays piano, has a refined, classy, polished, sophisticated sound. The song features an innovative bass line. That’s Steve Rodby. A refined acoustic bass line that drives the song’s rhythm. Here is an example of the bass line lead-in for the song….
PAUSE AND PLAY song intro, leading up to Metheny entrance. Bass line > Strings. > Metheny
Example piano and bass line
With this sound and bass rhythm, I am transported in style, hearing a musical storyline. Pat Metheny is the song’s composer. Lyle Mays piano talent makes the song feel like it is his own. Both Mays and Metheny have classy demos in the piece.
And Now:
So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), 1987 (6:24)
PLAY M5
Don’t Touch That Dial
that was M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), from the Still Life (Talking) album
- Pat Metheny – composer, electric guitar, co producer and arranger
- Lyle Mays – piano, keyboards co producer and arranger
- Steve Rodby – acoustic bass
- Paul Wertico – drums – a Chicago local – professor of music at Roosevelt University these days
- …And 3 vocalists ….
- Armando Marçal – percussion, backing vocals
- Mark Ledford – vocals
- David Blamires – vocals
BIT BUCKET
- The PAT METHENY GROUP recording with American jazz piano player, Lyle Mays.
- Jaco Pastorius died 1987 September Ft Lauderdale FL. This album released July 1987.
M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38)
According to Metheny, the writing of his next tune, LAST TRAIN HOME, came to him very quickly, he said it was written as one complete phrase, then he added the bridge sometime later. Featured on this song are the pulsing bass line and the drum brush tempo, which indeed does resemble the chug-a-lug sound of rolling steam train.
PAUSE EXAMPLE OF CHUG A LUG
Also featured IN LAST TRAIN HOME is the sound of electric sitar. In this case I belief Metheny is playing a guitar synthesizer, such as the GR-300 polyphonic analog guitar synth, which he did pioneer the use of. IT DOES REALLY SOUND LIKE A SITAR !
PLAY SITAR SOUND
About that electric sitar sound. Here is a flash back 20 years before LAST TRAIN HOME….to 1968 with this sitar sound. An electric sitar was used in the 1968 pop song “Hooked on a Feeling” written by Mark James and performed by B. J. Thomas. This version featured the sound of the electric sitar that was played by guitarist REGGIE YOUNG, from The Memphis Boys band. The sitar was really the HOOK that made this song so popular. Here is the sitar sound from that 1968 pop hit JOOKED ON A FEELIN:
PLAY EXAMPLE CLIP FROM BJ THOMAS HOOKED ON A FEELIN
… and now….
Last Train Home (Pat Metheny),from Still Life (Talking) 1987,
Play M6 FOUR AND TWENTY by Stephen Stills, the Déjà Vu album,
DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL
That was M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38).
Credits:
- Pat Metheny – composer, electric guitar with synth, co producer and arranger
- Lyle Mays – piano, keyboards co producer and arranger
- Steve Rodby – acoustic bass
- Paul Wertico – drums
- …And 3 vocalists
- Armando Marçal – percussion, backing vocals
- Mark Ledford – vocals
- David Blamires – vocals.
Still Life (Talking) won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance and was certified gold by the RIAA in 1992.
BIT BUCKET
- The GR-300 polyphonic analog guitar synth was introduced mid 1970s. These sell for 2000 to 4000 today used. Pat Metheny was a pioneer in its use.
- Hear it on this album?
CONCLUSION
Concluding comments
As of 2023, the combined musical groups consisting of Pat Metheny Group, Unity Band and Metheny as a Solo artist, have earned 20 Grammy awards for albums and performances in the 30 years between 1983 and 2013. His discography is extensive with 53 albums released in the 47-year span between that first BRIGHT SIZE LIFE ALBUM in 1976 and now, 2023.
That’s it for today’s show PAT METHENY GUITARIST
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