The Pat Metheny Group
| Pat Metheny Group | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Lee's Summit, Missouri, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, jazz fusion, crossover jazz, world fusion |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Labels | ECM, Geffen, Warner Bros., Nonesuch |
| Website | www |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
Pat Metheny Group is a jazz fusion group founded in 1977. The core members of the group are guitarist, composer and bandleader Pat Metheny; and keyboardist and composer Lyle Mays, who was part of the group's inception in 1977. Other long-standing members include bassist and producer Steve Rodby, who joined in 1981, and Paul Wertico, who was the group's drummer for 18 years from 1983 to 2001.
Founder Pat Metheny first emerged on the jazz scene in the mid-1970s with a pair of solo albums. First was Bright Size Life, released in 1976, a trio album with bass guitarist Jaco Pastorius and drummer Bob Moses. The next album, released in 1977, was Watercolors, featuring Eberhard Weber on bass, pianist Lyle Mays, and drummer Danny Gottlieb.
Despite the common description of Metheny's music as "fusion," it was always his intention to create improvised music that had a greater emphasis on bringing out harmony than anything common to what was called "fusion" of the time. Pastorius, with whom Metheny struck up a friendship while the two attended the University of Miami and later toured in Joni Mitchell's backing band during her transition from her earlier folk rock compositions to those with more jazz influence, had at the same time explored melodic lines for his instrument within the melodies normally heard, rather than just providing a simple bassline, revolutionizing the way the bass guitar was viewed by the musical establishment. The two friends would talk into the late evening during the early 1970s and discuss the new possibilities their instruments held.
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