# Metheny has remained active in the 21st century

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/08/28/metheny-remained-active-21st-century/
- Published: 2017-08-28T17:54:57+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**One of the most original guitarists from the ’80s onward (he is instantly recognizable),
Pat Metheny is a chance-taking player who has gained great popularity but also taken
some wild left turns. **

His records with the Pat Metheny Group are difficult to describe (folk-jazz? mood
music?) but manage to be both accessible and original, stretching the boundaries
of jazz and making Metheny famous enough that he could perform whatever type of 
music he wanted without losing his audience.

Song XMetheny (whose older brother is the trumpeter Mike Metheny) started on guitar
when he was 13. His talent developed quickly; he taught at both the University of
Miami and Berklee while he was a teenager, and made his recording debut with Paul
Bley and Jaco Pastorius in 1974. He spent an important period (1974-1977) with Gary
Burton’s group, met keyboardist Lyle Mays, and in 1978 formed his own group, which
originally featured Mays, bassist Mark Egan, and drummer Dan Gottlieb. Within a 
short period he was ECM’s top artist and one of the most popular of all jazzmen,
selling out stadiums. Metheny mostly avoided playing predictable music, and his 
freelance projects were always quite interesting. His 1980 album 80/81 featured 
Dewey Redman and Mike Brecker in a post-bop quintet; he teamed up with Charlie Haden
and Billy Higgins on a trio date in 1983; and two years later recorded the very 
outside Song X with Ornette Coleman. Metheny’s other projects away from the group
have included a sideman recording with Sonny Rollins, a 1990 tour with Herbie Hancock
in a quartet, a trio album with Dave Holland and Roy Haynes, and a collaboration(
and tour) with Joshua Redman.

Zero Tolerance for Silence Although his 1994 recording Zero Tolerance for Silence
baffled his audience, Metheny retained his popularity as a consistently creative
performer. In addition to recording for ECM, he has appeared as a leader on the 
Geffen, Warner Bros., and Nonesuch labels. Metheny has remained active in the 21st
century, releasing Speaking of Now in 2002, the acoustic solo album One Quiet Night
in 2003, Way Up in 2005, and Metheny Mehldau in 2006. Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau
returned to the studio the following year for Quartet. Metheny released the trio
album Day Trip in 2008. Orchestrion, which featured a solo Metheny playing several
acoustic instruments designed and built for him by Eric Singer, appeared from Nonesuch
early in 2010. Metheny released What’s It All About in June of 2011, his second 
solo acoustic guitar recording. Unlike any other entry in his large catalog, the
set entirely comprised covers of pop songs by contemporary songwriters (from Paul
Simon and Lennon and McCartney to Antonio Carlos Jobim, Burt Bacharach, and Hal 
David) who have continued to hold meaning for him throughout his career.

Unity BandMetheny released Unity Band with saxophonist Chris Potter, drummer Antonio
Sanchez, and bassist Ben Williams in June of 2012. In August the promised live The
Orchestrion Project was released; it was a CD and DVD document of the one-man tour
with the symphonic machine in 2010-2011. The guitarist made a compelling and independent
left turn in the spring of 2013 in performing the work of composer John Zorn on 
Tap: John Zorn’s Book of Angels, Vol. 20 on the Tzadik (owned by the composer) and
Nonesuch labels simultaneously. Metheny’s Unity Group continued to tour, and in 
2013 reentered the studio. Kin, their second offering, was released in February 
of 2014.

Hommage to Eberhard Weber In January of 2015, Metheny was part of a tribute to bassist
Eberhard Weber, who suffered a debilitating stroke in 2007 and has not performed
since. The evening featured works written and inspired by the bassist, played by
various groupings of musicians and the SWR Big Band. Co-billed to the guitarist,
saxophonist Jan Garbarek, and vibraphonist Gary Burton, it was released on ECM as
Hommage a Eberhard Weber in September. Metheny then delivered the live album Unity
Sessions and paired with trumpeter Cuong Vu for 2016’s Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny.

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