The Pat Metheny Discography Thread: Unity Band (2012)

[Orbert]

I'm still interested.  I have a bunch of Metheny on my hard drive, but I don't know much about it other than it's all great.

[darkshade]

Just read my way through this thread. I suppose in order to play along I really ought to start from the beginning of his discography and catch up. But more broadly speaking, is there one defining Metheny album that I should start with? Maybe the first Pat Metheny Group album from the description you gave? This Metheny & Mays album sounds interesting as well.

Yea I'll wait a while before proceeding to the next album to allow people to catch up.
I would say you can start with either the Pat Metheny Group self titled album for more airy, mid-western tinged prog-jazz fusion, or "Bright Size Life" which is more post-bop related with pastoral sounds and of course the legendary Jaco Pastorius on bass. I say listen to both.

[SoundscapeMN]

I believe I have the Wichita Falls album on vinyl, but have never got around to playing it. But given it resembles some of the records that followed, i probably need to.

[Fritzinger]

Screw it, I'll try to keep it going.

Sorry for not responding, yes please continue! Very interesting read!

[HOF]

Listened to the first Pat Metheny Group album last night and really enjoyed it. What stood out to me is how piano/keyboard heavy it is. Was expecting more Metheny but it makes sense for a jazz album to be more piano heavy I suppose. I’m gonna try to listen along to as many of these as I can.

[Kyo]

Side one
1.   "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls"   20:44

I've always loved this track. So atmospheric.

[darkshade]

Side one
1.   "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls"   20:44

I've always loved this track. So atmospheric.

So many great sections I don't even know what my favorite is. Also, I'm pretty sure the counting later on is the only time Metheny's voice can be heard on any album he's ever played on. The counting I believe was inserted accidentally but was left in, I'm glad they did. When he says "3", a big major chord comes in and continues the beautiful ascension the climax of the piece takes.

[darkshade]

Screw it, I'll try to keep it going.

Sorry for not responding, yes please continue! Very interesting read!

It's all good, I didn't wait very long for a response. 

[HOF]

Went back to Bright Sized Life, and it’s more of the guitar oriented album I was expecting from Metheny. However, I enjoyed it much less than the first PMG album (though I will admit I’m listening at work which is a much worse listening environment than I had last night). It’s much more free form and, and it’s not as melodic and memorable* as the band effort. Certainly an impressive performance though.

*I should probably say less immediate or accessible. I’m sure repeated listens might reveal more to me. Probably never fair to judge a jazz album on one cursory listen.

[HOF]

I’m kind of obsessed with Phase Dance right now. That main theme or whatever has been stuck in my  head all week. Can’t tell if it’s something I’ve heard before or if it just sounds like other jazzy stuff I’ve heard before (my dad used to listen to smooth jazz radio stations, but most of that was really fluffy contemporary 90s stuff). But I really like it.

[SjundeInseglet]

So many great sections I don't even know what my favorite is. Also, I'm pretty sure the counting later on is the only time Metheny's voice can be heard on any album he's ever played on. The counting I believe was inserted accidentally but was left in, I'm glad they did. When he says "3", a big major chord comes in and continues the beautiful ascension the climax of the piece takes.

That's not Pat, it's Lyle. Apparently, he was counting the number of second timing indicators for his synth track to organize multiple synths when Manfred Eicher accidentally unmuted the microphone and it got mixed in the music.

[Fritzinger]

So many great sections I don't even know what my favorite is. Also, I'm pretty sure the counting later on is the only time Metheny's voice can be heard on any album he's ever played on. The counting I believe was inserted accidentally but was left in, I'm glad they did. When he says "3", a big major chord comes in and continues the beautiful ascension the climax of the piece takes.

That's not Pat, it's Lyle. Apparently, he was counting the number of second timing indicators for his synth track to organize multiple synths when Manfred Eicher accidentally unmuted the microphone and it got mixed in the music.

I haven't heard that album in years, and the last time I heard the title track was on the Travels live album. Will revisit this one today! 

[darkshade]

So many great sections I don't even know what my favorite is. Also, I'm pretty sure the counting later on is the only time Metheny's voice can be heard on any album he's ever played on. The counting I believe was inserted accidentally but was left in, I'm glad they did. When he says "3", a big major chord comes in and continues the beautiful ascension the climax of the piece takes.

That's not Pat, it's Lyle. Apparently, he was counting the number of second timing indicators for his synth track to organize multiple synths when Manfred Eicher accidentally unmuted the microphone and it got mixed in the music.

Thanks, I didn't realize it was Lyle. That makes me enjoy that section even more. I'm listening to it now. I can never get tired of this album.
Yea, Eicher is notorious for recording and mixing albums on his ECM label in 2-3 days to keep the spontaneous nature preserved.

[darkshade]

I’m kind of obsessed with Phase Dance right now. That main theme or whatever has been stuck in my  head all week. Can’t tell if it’s something I’ve heard before or if it just sounds like other jazzy stuff I’ve heard before (my dad used to listen to smooth jazz radio stations, but most of that was really fluffy contemporary 90s stuff). But I really like it.

A lot of Pat's (and Lyle's) music makes you feel like you've heard it before. Not because it sounds like something else, but because the melodies are so good, so rich, so melodic, that I think the brain can't rationalize how it hadn't heard this before now.

[silentmac6]

Only just seen this thread so will try to keep up.

AFWSFWF was the first studio PM album I bought about 30 years ago (I already had Travels), and was a response to watching Fandango. "It's For You" was featured towards the end of that film, and I was mesmerised by how the musical atmosphere matched the dance sequence. IFY is still one of my favourite instumentals.

I love the way the title track builds atmosphere and tension, teasing its main theme before diverting for a while to a slightly sinister vocal section (if it can be so called, before the final climax of the main theme. The extended outro after the main climax, which is omitted in Travels, adds more atmosphere with random spoken numbers (I never understood why  )

Osark is a great upbeat way to follow what came before.

September Fifteenth is a lovely slower piece mainly featuring Lyle Mays (a deliciously subtle keyboardist).

Amazing Grace featuring Nana Casconcelos makes a nice Coda to the album.

I bought this on CD and would have thought there may be a decent remaster by now... I should have a look.

[darkshade]

I bought this on CD and would have thought there may be a decent remaster by now... I should have a look.

https://jazztimes.com/blog/pat-metheny-ecm-catalog-now-available-in-hi-res-audio/

[darkshade]

Offramp
Pat Metheny Group
released 1982


Side one
1.   "Barcarole" 3:17
2.   "Are You Going with Me?"   8:47
3.   "Au Lait"   8:32

Side two
1.   "Eighteen" 5:08
2.   "Offramp"   5:59
3.   "James"   6:47
4.   "The Bat Part II"   3:50

Pat Metheny – electric and acoustic guitar, guitar synthesizer, Synclavier
Lyle Mays – piano, synthesizers, autoharp, electric organ, Synclavier
Steve Rodby – electric and acoustic bass
Danny Gottlieb – drums
Naná Vasconcelos – percussion, voice, berimbau

----------------------------------------------------------------
This is one of my favorites and also one of the band's best. First appearance of Naná Vasconcelos on a proper Pat Metheny Group recording. It's also Steve Rodby's first album with the Group, replacing Mark Egan; who would go on with his Elements band alongside Danny Gottlieb who remained with Pat, Lyle, and co. for a little while longer. Rodby himself would remain with the Pat Metheny Group til the end, as well as produce and co-produce almost all of Pat's albums from the 90s-onwards. This album was a commercial success and the lead single "Are You Going With Me?" became a hit on jazz and 'smooth' jazz radio stations across the country. It also became a staple of live performances and has been re-recorded by Pat a few times in different musical contexts over the years. Same thing with the tune James.

Offramp brings a light Brazilian flavor to the Group for the first time, a characteristic of the PMG's music going well into the early 90s, and the Group mixes it well with the mid-Western vibe of the previous PMG albums. I enjoy this album most in spring/summer or early fall evenings. It just feels like the right time to listen to the music, as it is a little more of a laid back album than some of the other Pat Metheny Group albums... Except for the title track, which might scare you off at first (I used to dislike this tune) and sometimes seems out of place, but I've grown to enjoy it's charm. It isn't all dissonant, just the abrupt beginning of the tune. This track does bring it down a notch so the album isn't my all-time #1 favorite, but the rest of the album is some of my favorite Metheny/Mays music so it's still top 5. What do you guys think?

[ReaperKK]

Like most Pat Metheny stuff I haven't heard this album either but I'll give it a spin tomorrow and let you know my thoughts.

[ReaperKK]

I had a listen to Offramp and I liked it but like the few other Pat Metheny albums I've listened to it's going to take some repeat listens for it to grow on me. I really liked "James" and "Are You Going With Me?". I very much didn't like Barcarole though. One thing you mentioned was the Brazilian flavor and I can definitely hear it. In this context I think it works well, I was really struggling with it back when I was first trying to get into Pat Metheny a few years ago.

[darkshade]

I had a listen to Offramp and I liked it but like the few other Pat Metheny albums I've listened to it's going to take some repeat listens for it to grow on me. I really liked "James" and "Are You Going With Me?". I very much didn't like Barcarole though. One thing you mentioned was the Brazilian flavor and I can definitely hear it. In this context I think it works well, I was really struggling with it back when I was first trying to get into Pat Metheny a few years ago.

I find most of Pat's tunes to be slow burners. Every single album gets better every time I listen to it though. Witchita Falls was one of my least favorites for a long time, thought it was boring, then suddenly it all clicked and I think it's one of his and Lyle's best albums and one of the best prog-jazz albums ever. With Offramp, I was fascinated with the first track Barcarole when I first heard it because I've always been intrigued by world music.

One of the things that caught my attention when I was new to Pat's music was how there are these moments throughout Pat Metheny Group albums that remind me of moments on DT's Images and Words and Awake albums, though that might just be that 80s/early 90s aesthetic but it was something that made me think the guys back then were listening to PMG a little.

[ReaperKK]

I haven't listened to much of Pat's music but one album of his that immediately clicked for me was One Quiet Night, I love the solo acoustic pieces on that album.

[SoundscapeMN]

Offramp was one of the 1st Metheny albums I heard per I recall checking it from the library about 20 years ago. I came to find it to be one of his most popular albums of the 80's records.

It has enough of the synthy guitars but also the incorporation of the ethnic (Brazilian) styles that add to it.

It's odd how I would probably put Offramp in my top 5 Metheny records, and yet maybe since I haven't listened to it in ages, I'm not sure that still makes sense to do.

I do recall when I 1st heard it, it had enough of those wow/holy shit,/this-music-could-be-used-for-therapy kind of energy and vibe, that it put me in awe of Metheny.

[darkshade]

Offramp was one of the 1st Metheny albums I heard per I recall checking it from the library about 20 years ago. I came to find it to be one of his most popular albums of the 80's records.

It has enough of the synthy guitars but also the incorporation of the ethnic (Brazilian) styles that add to it.

It's odd how I would probably put Offramp in my top 5 Metheny records, and yet maybe since I haven't listened to it in ages, I'm not sure that still makes sense to do.

I do recall when I 1st heard it, it had enough of those wow/holy shit,/this-music-could-be-used-for-therapy kind of energy and vibe, that it put me in awe of Metheny.

I've found, especially with the Group albums or whenever Lyle Mays is involved, is an underlying prog structure that is easily unnoticeable because of how subtle it is and it is underneath all the fireworks of the synth patches and mild psychedelia.

[SoundscapeMN]

new album "Road to the Sun" coming March 5th, 2021

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIYa9-WA37q/

Verified
PAT METHENY'S NEW ALBUM ROAD TO THE SUN
DUE OUT MARCH 5, 2021
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!

[Link in Bio]

FIRST EXCERPT ROAD TO THE SUN, PART 2 IS AVAILABLE NOW

There are only a handful of living musicians who can continually reinvent themselves year after year, and even fewer still who can claim to have maintained equal degrees of innovation and sheer excellence across a career spanning decades. Pat Metheny is one of the few artists in the world who can lay claim to such a description. Road To The Sun is yet another unexpected and genre-defying new recording from the 20 time Grammy winning guitarist/composer Pat Metheny.

This recording features two major extended works for classical guitar. Road To The Sun is performed by the legendary @laguitarquartet and performing Pat’s new solo guitar piece, Four Paths of Light is Grammy winning virtuoso, @jasonvieauxguitar . ​

“I am blown away by this new (Metheny) composition every time we play it. Such beautiful melodic and harmonic flow! Although his fans will recognize it as undeniably Metheny, he develops his thematic material so skillfully that the average concert-goer will get lost in his world. A soundscape of epic proportions.” - Scott Tennant (Los Angeles Guitar Quartet)

“Whenever an artist of Pat’s significance writes not only a substantial work, but a piece that requires real virtuosity to perform it (and has his musical imprint all over it), it’s a big moment for classical guitar.” -Jason Vieaux

[darkshade]

Great news! Didn't notice this sooner.

I'm willing to continue the discography if everyone is caught up?

[Fritzinger]

I saw these news too, but I don't quite understand: Is Pat himself gonna be playing on this album or not? Because it sounds like he has written some music and other guitarists will play it (kind of like Billy Joel's classical piano album). If Pat doesn't play on this album, I'd be kinda disappointed.

[darkshade]

It does seem that way, and while it is disappointing, this is better than no new music which was the status quo from 2015-2019 (when Pat is known for putting out at least one album every year since 1975.

[SoundscapeMN]

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/library-of-congress-national-recording-registry-nas-janet-jackson-1234936992/

 
Bright Size Life was added to the National Recording Registry

The complete 2020 National Recording Registry entries, in chronological order:

1. Edison’s “St. Louis tinfoil” recording (1878)
2. “Nikolina” — Hjalmar Peterson (1917) (single)
3. “Smyrneikos Balos” — Marika Papagika (1928) (single)tinatina Walker
4. “When the Saints Go Marching In” — Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra (1938) (single)
5. Christmas Eve Broadcast–Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill (December 24,
1941)
6. “The Guiding Light” — Nov. 22, 1945
7. “Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues” — Odetta (1957) (album)
8. “Lord, Keep Me Day by Day” — Albertina Walker and the Caravans (1959) (single)
9. Roger Maris hits his 61st homerun (October 1, 1961)
10. “Aida” — Leontyne Price, et.al. (1962) (album)
11. “Once a Day” — Connie Smith (1964) (single)
12. “Born Under a Bad Sign” — Albert King (1967) (album)
13. “Free to Be…You & Me” — Marlo Thomas and Friends (1972) (album)
14. “The Harder They Come” — Jimmy Cliff (1972) (album)
15. “Lady Marmalade” — Labelle (1974) (single)
16. “Late for the Sky” — Jackson Browne (1974) (album)
17. “Bright Size Life” — Pat Metheny (1976) (album)
18. “The Rainbow Connection” — Kermit the Frog (1979) (single)
19. “Celebration” — Kool & the Gang (1980) (single)
20. “Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs” — Jessye Norman (1983) (album)
21. “Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814” — Janet Jackson (1989) (album)

22. “Partners” — Flaco Jiménez (1992) (album)
23. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”/”What A Wonderful World” — Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (1993) (single)
24. “Illmatic” — Nas (1994) (album)
25. “This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money” (May 9, 2008)

[darkshade]

 

What a lineup: Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Bob Moses, and Gary Burton (uncredited producer)

https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-21-015/national-recording-registry-adds-rhythm-nation-among-25-new-selections/2021-03-24/


Jaco's own self-titled debut album should be in there as well.

[HOF]

I’m kind of obsessed with Phase Dance right now. That main theme or whatever has been stuck in my  head all week. Can’t tell if it’s something I’ve heard before or if it just sounds like other jazzy stuff I’ve heard before (my dad used to listen to smooth jazz radio stations, but most of that was really fluffy contemporary 90s stuff). But I really like it.

Ha, I just figured out what Phase Dance reminded me of. The theme song from Who’s the Boss is a total knock off!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zkD9wzrrhiA&t=1s

[darkshade]

I’m kind of obsessed with Phase Dance right now. That main theme or whatever has been stuck in my  head all week. Can’t tell if it’s something I’ve heard before or if it just sounds like other jazzy stuff I’ve heard before (my dad used to listen to smooth jazz radio stations, but most of that was really fluffy contemporary 90s stuff). But I really like it.

Ha, I just figured out what Phase Dance reminded me of. The theme song from Who’s the Boss is a total knock off!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zkD9wzrrhiA&t=1s

Larry Carlton wrote it, he has some of those early 80s smooth jazz-isms in his sound, but yea, that intro is a total rip off.

[darkshade]

Going to restart this. Sticking with only solo albums and "Group" albums, and albums not under Pat's name where he has a major presence and/or wrote majority of the music. So no albums where Pat is merely a sideman (even if he contributed a song or two) but these albums can be discussed along the way. I am also going to include Lyle Mays' solo albums as he is 1/2 the Group album sound, wrote half the music, and has a discography thread that is too short with only 5 albums.

I always recommend listening to these 4 recordings as a lead up to Pat's debut album, Bright Size Life, recorded in 1975 and released in 1976.
They show how much he progressed from his first real recording with Jaco Pastorius, Paul Bley, and Bruce Ditmas, to Gary Burton's Passengers, the first major recording with mostly Pat's compositions, recorded around the same time as Bright Size Life.

Jaco (1974)


Gary Burton - Ring (1974)


Gary Burton - Dreams So Real (1975)


Gary Burton - Passengers (1976)


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Bright Size Life (1976)


This album was recently selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, and clear to hear why when you listen to this music. This might be the most popular 70s jazz album that isn't a fusion recording, yet this album was pretty much unknown during that decade. The music has a way of warming up to you every time it's on. To me, this is the purest Metheny album and as it is just guitar, bass, and drums, no effects. I can listen to this morning, noon, or night. This album never gets old for me, I've probably listened to it a hundred times.

[SoundscapeMN]

btw, Pete Pardo from Sea of Tranquiity recently did a "Ranking the Albums"" video for Pat Metheny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ksedk1BKI

[darkshade]

Watercolors (1977)


First appearance with Lyle Mays. An album with a colorful ensemble. A great morning album to get the day going.
Some interesting sounds that wouldn't get repeated much in future Metheny recordings. Lyle Mays playing is already top notch here.
Not my favorite overall album by Pat, but one I do find myself listening to a lot for it's mysterious aura (and a couple of early classics like River Quay, Lakes, and the title track.)

[Orbert]

Listening to Watercolors now.   I wish I could think of something to say about this music other than that I think it's really, really good.