Rare is the improvising artist who reaches the wider audience without diluting his art. Rare still is such an artist who sees his audience expand apace with his musical vision. Pat Metheny – virtuoso guitarist, multi-faceted composer, innovative producer and guitar synthesizer pioneer – finds himself in a most enviable position, primarily the result of an insatiable musical intelligence and seemingly unflagging energy. “Running” aptly describes his fast-forward career.

Born August 12, 1954 in the Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Pat Metheny has been a professional musician for virtually half his life. The guitarist’s credentials, even outside of the Pat Metheny Group, are most impressive. An instructor while still in his teens at both the University of Miami and Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Pat joined Gary Burton’s band at age 19. During his three year stay (1974-77), Pat was featured on three of the vibraphonist’s ECM albums (Ring, Dreams So Real and Passengers).

Pat has performed and/or recorded with some of the most innovative musicians of the past two decades: Gary Burton, Paul Bley, Sonny Rollins, Steve Swallow, Dewey Redman, Paul Motian, Hubert Laws, Roy Haynes, Miroslav Vitous, Dave Liebman, Eberhard Weber, Julius Hemphill, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, Ornette Coleman, Milton Nascimento, Herbie Hancock, Steve Reich, Joshua Redman, Bruce Hornsby and Trilok Gurtu. In 1979, he was a member of Joni Mitchell’s stellar backing group for her Shadows and Light tour.

Having recorded 26 albums in 25 years and with an amazing total of 12 Grammy Awards, Pat Metheny’s singular approach has been captured in a variety of settings, each a distinctive piece of a bold, larger design. Albums such as Bright Size Life with Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses introduced Metheny’s engaging compositions and unique instrumental conception; American Garage evinced that Pat Metheny Group’s more rockish side; or the more recent and timeless classic, Beyond the Missouri Sky… (Short Stories) with Charlie Haden, incorporating elements of jazz, folk and country. Each incantation in Pat’s ever evolving career has been distinctly unique and yet all are indelibly etched with Metheny’s signature.

Pat Metheny continues to break new ground. In the past year alone, Metheny released his breathtaking score to the film version of Jane Hamilton’s novel A Map of the World (Warner Bros.) and recorded on two albums, Jim Hall & Pat Metheny (Telarc) and Michael Brecker’s Time is of the Essence (Verve). The year 2000 began with Metheny featured in Time magazine’s January 31, 2000 issue and the highly anticipated February 18, 2000 release of a new Pat Metheny Trio album simply titled Trio 99>00 (Warner Bros.). This release has been honoured with a 2001 Grammy Award, for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance. The trio features two of the hottest players on the jazz scene, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart. Time Mgazine says, “…the new millennium now has its first great guitar album”.

Biography courtesy of Ted Kurland Associates.