The Beatles and Wes Montgomery as earliest influences
Pat Metheny (°1954) grew up in Kansas City and ditched his first instrument, the trumpet, when, at the age of 12, he saw four Brits in black tailored suits playing on TV: The Beatles. In fact, on his latest album MoonDial, he covers The Beatles' Here, There and Everywhere. Not much later, he gets to know the music of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. He imitates him at first, but from his late teens onwards, he searches for a sound of his own.
Guitar + synthesizer = magic
Why choose when you can have both? Metheny must have thought so when, in the 1980s, he was one of the first to use a guitar synthesizer (for guitarists: it was a Roland GR-300). By connecting his electric guitar to a music computer, Metheny multiplied his possibilities in terms of timbre and opened the door to new genres like jazz fusion and rock.
Grammy Award Champion
Metheny must have a gigantic mantelpiece at home, because there are no less than 20 Grammy Awards to his name. What's even more special is that they come from 10 different categories, from Best Jazz Instrumental Album to Best Rock Instrumental Performance. He is the only musician who has already won in so many categories. The only one!
He plays solo on a new baritone guitar
His curly eighties haircut has been around for half a century, but the musical instruments he uses come and go. On his latest album, he plays a new baritone guitar with nylon strings, like a classical guitar, but tuned lower than usual, resulting in a warm sound. Metheny gradually fell for that charm: ‘On the first night of the Dream Box/Moondial tour I played one song on this (instrument). And by the time the first part of that tour ended, 35 minutes of the set I was playing it.’
Pat Metheny will play at the Henry Le Boeuf Hall on 25 October. Book your tickets here.
