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Pat Metheny Group

The band of the guitarist Pat Metheny and the pianist Lyle Mays, formed in 1977 and active until 2010, whose Still Life (Talking) topped the jazz chart in 1987.

Origin
Lee's Summit, Missouri
Years active
1977-2010
Genres
jazz fusion, jazz
Labels
ECM, Geffen, Warner Bros., Nonesuch

The ECM years

The Pat Metheny Group was founded by the guitarist Pat Metheny and the pianist Lyle Mays, who had worked together on Metheny's 1977 album Watercolors; in 1977 the bassist Mark Egan and the drummer Danny Gottlieb joined to form the group. Mays, born on November 27, 1953 in Wausaukee, Wisconsin, had met Metheny in 1975 at the Wichita Jazz Festival, studied at the University of North Texas and toured with Woody Herman. Metheny's own debut was Bright Size Life (1976), a trio with Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses.

Pat Metheny Group (March 1978, ECM) was recorded in January 1978 in Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug, and ran 41:28. It reached number five on the jazz chart and 123 on the pop chart, and AllMusic gave it five stars. Metheny said on a 1979 ECM radio special that he knew it had commercial appeal but that he physically couldn't play something he didn't really believe in. American Garage followed in November 1979, recorded in June 1979 at Long View Farm in Massachusetts and produced by Metheny, then Offramp (May 1982, recorded in October 1981 at the Power Station, with Rodby and Naná Vasconcelos), which won the group's first Grammy for best jazz fusion performance. Travels (1983) was a live double album recorded in 1982, and First Circle (1984) was Metheny's last ECM project, with Wertico on drums.

Geffen and after

Still Life (Talking), the first Geffen release, came out on July 7, 1987 after the end of Metheny's nine-year ECM relationship and after Song X with Ornette Coleman. It was produced by Metheny, co-produced by Mays and recorded in March and April 1987 at the Power Station in New York. It reached number one on the jazz chart and 86 on the pop chart, was certified gold, and won the Grammy for best jazz fusion performance. AllMusic gave it four and a half stars, and fans group it with First Circle and Letter from Home (1989) as the Brazilian Trilogy. Later albums were We Live Here (1995), Quartet (1996), Imaginary Day (1997), Speaking of Now (2002) and The Way Up (2005), a single 68-minute piece, played in full at the Montreal Jazz Festival, which won the Grammy for best contemporary jazz album.

The core quartet of Metheny, Mays, Rodby and Sanchez toured from 2008, and in 2010 a Songbook Tour with no new material ended the group. Lyle Mays died on February 10, 2020 in Los Angeles, aged 66; Metheny said Lyle was one of the greatest musicians he has ever known. The group's film We Live Here - Live in Japan (1995) and The Way Up - Live (filmed in Seoul in 2005) were released on video.

Members

Records

Songs

Jaco Pastorius, Weather Report

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Discography and data

Writing and criticism

Sources

  1. Pat Metheny Group, Wikipedia
  2. Lyle Mays, evocative pianist who helped define Pat Metheny Group, dead at 66, WBGO (2020-02-11)
  3. An hour with Pat Metheny, ECM Reviews (2020-04-08)
  4. Offramp, Wikipedia