Guitarist Pat Metheny is no stranger to academia, but after
becoming a professional jazz guitarist at age 14, homework and
grades were never a priority to Metheny.
“My (high school) graduation was like a mercy graduation.
There was no way I had the credits to get out of school,” he
said.
Metheny brings his jazz repertoire to UCLA this Saturday night
as he and his group will perform from their newest album,
“Speaking of Now.” The Pat Metheny Group plays
experimental jazz in an effort to craft a distinctive sound.
“Most kids in high school are in to rebelling against
their parents. I was not only in to rebelling against my parents,
but also (against) all of my friends,” Metheny said.
“Jazz was by far the most extreme vision of individuality I
had ever run across, and in a lot of ways, that remains the
case.”
Following his high school completion, he was offered a
scholarship to the University of Miami. Soon after Metheny arrived,
however, he realized that he could not do any actual schoolwork.
Not wanting to lose the young talent, Miami offered him a position
as a teacher in the university’s new electric guitar program.
While merely a teenager teaching students who were pretty much all
his elders, Metheny experienced college from a strange
perspective.
“Age doesn’t really matter that much, it never has.
I was 14 or 15, playing with people who were in their 50s,”
Metheny said. “As soon as you start playing, it doesn’t
matter what age anyone is. That’s something that’s
great about the jazz world.”
In 1974, at the age of 20, Metheny started touring and
hasn’t stopped since. Playing anywhere from 120 to 240 shows
a year for the last three decades, he is living his dream. Although
he has released an average of an album per year, he enjoys live
performances more than recording.
His recording count has broken 30, including his solo output
work with the Pat Metheny Group, and collaborations with other
artists. Throughout his career, he has also been awarded 14
Grammys, seven of which honored during in consecutive years for
consecutively produced albums. His latest effort,
“Speaking,” was released this year after the addition
of three new members to the Pat Metheny Group.
As an electric, acoustic and synth guitarist, and composer of
most of his group’s music, Metheny credits his upbringing in
a small Missouri town as a major influence in his writing.
“Rather than denying that (my geographic origin), I
embraced it and brought elements into the music that referred to
that,” said Metheny. “There’s a lot of space in
the music, there was more opportunity for things to happen because
there were fewer events along the way.”
Early on, Metheny was also hugely influenced by jazz legend
Miles Davis. Mentheny’s guitar-playing style has been likened
to a horn player’s characteristic sound. Hearing Davis as
what he considers a high-level improvisational artist, he
experienced a musical awakening.
“For me as an 11 year old kid, it was like somebody walked
into the room and turned on the lights,” said Metheny.
“When I heard jazz, it was like lightning bolts went off in
the sky.”
Metheny has made a stop at almost every major college campus in
the nation, helping him build a following of dedicated fans. But he
doesn’t foresee a return to academia anytime in the near
future ““ he’s too focused on performing.
“Maybe some day I’ll teach again,” said
Metheny. “As long as I can keep playing as much as I’m
getting to play, I’ll be doing what I want to do.”
Pat Metheny performs at 8 p.m. tomorrow night at Royce. Tickets
are $17 for students.