Rick Beato's Interview with Pat Metheny

That second piece of Mays with Acuna should make you slackjawed with its intimacy & beauty. Take 5 minutes and watch it if you haven't already.

Thank you @heisenberg for highlighting the amazing Lyle Mays. I've been "late to the party" with Lyle. I first heard his name back in the late 80's, but only really took notice of his music about 10 years ago through a friend and fellow pianist Ade Ishs, who is very much influenced by Lyle and Pat in both composition & playing. Ade is my friend who interviewed Pat last year for an Australian publication.

For those interested, here's one of my favourite pieces of Ade's, from his 2013 Trio album:

I know this thread has moved towards talking about Lyle and his gifts, however, I want to share this piece of music that Pat and Charlie Haden played on their duet album, Beyond The Missouri Sky. It's the second track on the recording. It is a wonderful intimate lilting serenade, Our Spanish Love Song. This Youtube track has kinda killed off the high end of the piece but you can still enjoy it...




This other piece, Two for the Road is just so beautiful & charming that I have to include this as well...

heisenberg said:

I know this thread has moved towards talking about Lyle and his gifts, however, I want to share this piece of music that Pat and Charlie Haden played on their duet album, Beyond The Missouri Sky. It's the second track on the recording. It is a wonderful intimate lilting serenade, Our Spanish Love Song. This Youtube track has kinda killed off the high end of the piece but you can still enjoy it...

This other piece, Two for the Road is just so beautiful & charming that I have to include this as well...

Click to expand...

Two charismatic little pieces from just a charming album from the late 90's. Pat mention's the 'listening' element as being key for him, and thankfully he has a tendency to practice what he preaches.

This one is an upbeat little gem he did with Jim Hall from around the same time as 'Missouri Sky'.




And this one is just one of the most beautiful things ever recorded.

Just wow. Holy crap that piece of Pat with Toots Thielemans is covered in a bittersweetness that is undeniably beautiful. Man that was good. Thanks for that.

One more live version of a tune from the Metheny/Haden album to end off the evening... It encapsulates that state of forlorn for those that leave us way too soon, as Haden and Mays did along with too many other beautiful musical souls that we know.

One additional observation about those two pieces with Jim Hall and Toots... Metheny knew EXACTLY the emotional temperature to dial in when playing with both of those musicians. He just got it instinctively. Pretty remarkable individual.

heisenberg said:

I know this thread has moved towards talking about Lyle and his gifts, however, I want to share this piece of music that Pat and Charlie Haden played on their duet album, Beyond The Missouri Sky. It's the second track on the recording. It is a wonderful intimate lilting serenade, Our Spanish Love Song. This Youtube track has kinda killed off the high end of the piece but you can still enjoy it...




This other piece, Two for the Road is just so beautiful & charming that I have to include this as well...

Click to expand...

One of my all time favourite albums. Nearly wore it out when I first bought it, which is saying something given I bought a copy on CD

Wow, that piece with Toots… incredibly beautiful. Thanks for this; I’ve never heard it before.

Another beautiful orchestrated piece by Metheny that I’ve always had a very soft spot for, is ‘Tell her you saw me’ from ‘Secret Story’.

Martin S said:

Wow, that piece with Toots… incredibly beautiful. Thanks for this; I’d never heard it before.

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Yeah, that one really is something special- Secret Story still remains my personal favorite of his out of all the many Power Station albums he has recorded over the years. He just loves that specific spot.

The track 'Back in Time' was from a re-release and remaster of Secret Story from around 06-07- they included about four extra tracks from what was supposedly the same booked sessions for the album. Why that one never made it onto the original album- something that has remained a small mystery to me ever since. Chilling stuff (in a good way!).

Jish said:

Yeah, that one really is something special- Secret Story still remains my personal favorite of his out of all the many Power Station albums he has recorded over the years. He just loves that specific spot.

The track 'Back in Time' was from a re-release and remaster of Secret Story from around 06-07- they included about four extra tracks from what was supposedly the same booked sessions for the album. Why that one never made it onto the original album- something that has remained a small mystery to me ever since. Chilling stuff (in a good way!).

Click to expand...

I agree, that ‘Back in Time’ track should definitely had been on the original album. What a gem. Well, it seems like I’ll have to find the remastered version of that album now.

(Edit: got it on iTunes)

Holy moly, this interview is one for the ages. Have always loved Metheny but am blown away by how articulate and astute he is. Genius is often an overused term but this guy is the real thing. One of the best interviews with a musician ever.

A semi-motherload of recordings landed at my place today. This thread got me to jonesin' around for a bunch of Lyle Mays and Metheny recordings that I haven't either heard since the vinyl days or never got them. Offramp was the first one to make it into the player. I wore out two LPs of that record back in the early eighties. The other discs I am going to slowly listen to them over the coming weeks... However, in looking for album art on the net I stumbled onto this early performance of Metheny with Moses, Burton, Swallow and Goodrich playing a really hot set. Metheny only features a bit in the extended piece but man these guys were on fire. Dates back to 1974 with a very young Metheny.