i first became aquainted with pat metheny's music back in 1978-79, when a friend of mine made me a tape of the album "the pat metheny group" released in 1978. i had been listening to a lot of jazz, but nothing electric or anything that could be deemed fusion. but, after listening to that record, i quickly went out and bought the album, and soon after bought the previous 2 records that he had released. since that time, i have been a loyal fan.

i first saw him in concert in 1980 in support of american garage at the agora ballroom in atlanta. since then i have seen him in 1982, 1983 twice, 1992, 1993 twice, and 1995.

in 1993, he played the roxy in atlanta, which is a small club which was a movie theater when i was a kid. he played for about an hour when there was a loud crackling noise and all the electricity went out. after about 15 minutes the stage manager came out and said that pat had blown the main electrical cable coming in from the street to the club and that they were working on it. it took several hours to restore the power, i mean like 4-5 hours.

after the power came back on, there were only about 100-200 people left, but he came back out and played the rest of the show (about 90 minutes). then pat said, that because of the inconvenience, he set up with the management to play again the next night, and all those that had ticket stubs, could redeem them for tickets for the following night's show. i redeemed my ticket and went the next night and he played another 2.5 - 2.75 hour show to the same 100-200 people that stayed late. it was awesome.

one of the things i like about metheny is that he is willing to experiment. he made a name for himself playing very melodic, highly composed jazz fusion, but he has been willing to play avante garde, electronica, and other not so commercial brands of music. some of his work with charlie haden is just exquisite. his contribution to joni mitchell's shadow's and light is great, as well.

he is also, a very prolific composer, player. i believe he has somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 titles at this point. i have probably about 25 of them.
my favorites are:
the pat metheny group
offramp
first circle
still life talking
letter from home
secret story
beyond the missouri sky
speaking of now

He is great

Thanks for the thread on Pat medoc2003. Not much to say here except that the Pat Metheny Group is one of my all-time favorite groups with exceptional great musicianship. Had a chance to chat with Pat last year during the Speaking Of Now Tour{which is one of the all around best concerts I'VE EVER seen, I ranked this one right next to Sir Stevie Wonder's concert I attended in 1988} and he's such a down to earth fellow. Thanks again for this thread. Yes, he's very prolific!!!
[This message was edited Wed Apr 23 4:18:21 PDT 2003 by Brother915]

I love this guy and his music!

Just on another level...

my favorite shows were the 1982 and 1993 shows.

when i saw him in 1982, i went with a long time girlfriend who was sick at the time with a bad cold. she was a real trooper, but towards the end she started to fade really bad. so after about 2 hours, i suggested we leave (she was looking kind of puny and i figured it was almost over anyway). i found out from friends that he played anpther 45 minutes after we left. that was the tour in support of the album offramp, and dates of that tour were released as the album travels. it was his first forre into that brazilian sound he has tapped into a lot in later years, and featured nana vasconsuelos on percussion.

my favorite show was the 1993 show i mentioned in the first post when he played the "make up show" for the electrical problems the night before. there were only 100-200 people there, all pretty much hardcore fans that were there for the make up show, very intimate setting. that was the tour in support of secret story, with an amazing all-star band, not the traditional pat metheny group band. there were 9-10 musicians on stage, all fantastic players, and the material played was brilliant.

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[This message was edited Wed Apr 23 9:48:00 PDT 2003 by medoc2003]

I can appreciate his guitar skills, but he just doesn't move me. I think that can be said for a lot of jazz/fusion guitar players. They have chops to kill, but no heart behind it. I really think something is missing in the area of guitar playing. There is a void that someone needs to fill.