Usually, the only time I get to listen to my own stuff is while on the road. I often say I live on output, with little or no time for input. That changes on tour, where suddenly there seems to be more free hours in the day, albeit on a bus or in some far-flung hotel room. Occasionally, those moments offer a chance to rummage around in the files to see if anything interesting may lie there. He remembers having learnt and evolved his self-critical approach originally from observing and discussing Steve Swallow. Metheny remembers being surprised by some of the tunes which Swallow would reject. These days he identifies much more with that kind of self-critical rigour. The new compositions are highlights, tracing their central motifs to unexpected destinations. While some of Metheny’s best original work this century has spoken to his ambition as a composer (2005’s The Way Up), his aim here is for simple but immersive mood-setting. After an introduction of electric guitar against chiming, slightly dissonant acoustic chords, the gorgeous “Ole & Gard” swiftly finds its feet and cycles through various settings to return to a recurring bluesy refrain. “From the Mountains” is more formless but just as memorable, navigating its eight-minute runtime with a dreamy sense of focus: The effect is like watching the sun rise over an unfamiliar city, new contours filling in as the light starts to spread.

Some commentators have suggested that his approach to integrating technology makes him a fore-runner or precursor of Artificial Intelligence. Here again he is clear as to the parts he wants to embrace and the aspects that simply have no interest for him at all in his permanent striving to be a better musician: “When I think about how to apply my interest in music through the prism of what tech offers I feel very strongly that – as the tech saying has it – ‘Garbage in. Garbage out’. If you don’t have a good story to tell, a good melody, and you can’t play that good, none of this is going to help. It is just going to amplify that it isn’t happening….” Meanwhile, Metheny has a host of tour dates lined up in the U.S. and Europe with his Side-Eye Trio. Launched in 2016 as a platform for up-and-coming players, this iteration features pianist Chris Fishman and drummer Joe Dyson. The Side-Eye tour begins in June and moves to Europe in July. Beginning in September, Metheny launches a fall tour in support of Dream Box with destinations throughout the U.S. And hasn’t the pandemic given him an insight into – a taste for – ‘civilian life’ rather than being out on the road? He admits that it has indeed changed his perspective…but only up to a point. Before going on tour these days, there is, he admits, some self-questioning about whether going out to perform in front of “a bunch of strangers” makes any sense, particularly as his 70th birthday approaches, next year. “But by the second night it will be like ‘I was born to do this’. My metabolism switches to this thing I have been doing since I was sixteen.” And yet surely, I wondered, Metheny has always been interested in the possibilities of technology, it is part of his essence. He agrees: “I am an electric guitarist. My first act was to plug it in. Cords, knobs and wires are all part of the instrument. I happened to be born at a point that traverses all of this stuff, and my fundamental relationship to knobs wires and electricity has expanded along with it.” Please consider spreading the word about Pat’s new album and touras well as Jazz Guitar Life by sharing this article amongst your social media pals and please feel free to leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you🙂

On The Go

This past year was a particularly busy travel year for me, with about 160 performances worldwide. In the course of all that travel, I found myself returning to that discovered folder lots of times, genuinely surprised at what I was finding in there. Dream Box follows 2021’s studio album Road to the Sun and live recording Side-Eye NYC, making it the third release on Metheny’s own record label Modern Records, an imprint of BMG. He said that the true answer to the question of his attitude to technology is that he has no fear, “I’m like: ‘Yeah, bring it on!’ To me they are more tools, just another way to be. It is another way to find a window or a trap door into this ever-expanding house that I have been working on.” For an artist whose name has become synonymous with sleek, smooth hyper-technicality—your guitar teacher’s favorite guitarist—Metheny remains underrated for his unending drive to experiment and challenge himself. While his feathery style on the fretboard remains as distinctive as his robust and permanently windswept mane, no two of his records involve quite the same approach, whether that means finding new collaborators, new instrumentation, or on releases like Dream Box, new ways to channel his creative process. I was inducted into The Kansas Music Hall Of Fame in 2008 with Pat Metheny. I was considered a pioneer in using special tunings on the acoustic guitar in creating my unique, poetic songs. I toured as a “solo” opening act for many iconic bands and artists including: BB King, The Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, Linda Ronstadt, John Denver, POCO, John Lee Hooker, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Hot Tuna, Brewer & Shipley and MANY others.

I have over 50 CDs and singles on Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and other global music curators. Or if you’re Pat Metheny, you might ask: What would this sound like stripped down to just two sad, solitary electric guitars? The 68-year-old virtuoso’s rendition is a highlight on Dream Box, an understated set of new solo recordings that he compiled during downtime on tour buses and in hotel rooms around the world. On the road last year, Metheny sorted through a folder on his computer where he had stored these casual, off-hours experiments: cover songs, jazz standards, and new melodies captured as soon as they occurred to him. In the liner notes, Metheny describes the songs as “moments in time” more than proper compositions. “I have almost no memory of having recorded most of them,” he admits. “They just kind of showed up.” Metheny's discography is a testament to his influence and talent, with 50 recordings and 20 Grammy wins across twelve different categories. From his groundbreaking album New Chautauqua, (ECM, 1979), which redefined instrumental steel-stringed Americana, to his exploration of free-improv in Zero Tolerance for Silence (Geffen Records, 1994) and the innovative use of technology in The Orchestrion Project, (Nonesuch, 2013) Metheny consistently pushes the boundaries of what a solo performer can achieve.But dreams in their broadest sense make up the vibe with this set. Music exists for me in an elusive state, often at its best when discovered apart from any particular intention. In contrast to the introspection and insularity of the aforementioned companion pieces to this LP (as well as the raging cacophony in the contractual fulfillment that is 1994’s Zero Tolerance For Silence), there’s an overriding sense of this newly-formulated compilation as PatMetheny’s unconscious capture of the essence of people, places and things gleaned from his global jaunts. Album info: Pat Metheny: Dream Box Label: BMG Modern Recordings Release date: June 16, 2023 Format: CD, vinyl and digital The title Dream Box has multiple meanings. “Box” is jazz slang for a hollow-body guitar, and Dream Box showcases many different guitar sounds. But the word “dream” is the key here: “Dreams in their broadest sense make up the vibe with this set,” Metheny explains. “Music exists for me in an elusive state, often at its best when discovered apart from any particular intention.” Despite a catalog of 50 recordings that have won 20 Grammys in twelve different categories, Metheny’s “complex and restlessly curious musical sensibility” (The Guardian) continues to lead him in new directions. As Pat says in the liner notes: