20-time Grammy Award winning guitarist, PAT METHENY, has announced “An Evening with Pat Metheny” – three special theatre shows in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney during March, 2020.
Touring Australia for only the third time in his 40-year-plus career (having previously visited in 1985 and 2014), Metheny will present a range of music from throughout his career, joined by his long-time drummer, Antonio Sanchez, Malaysian/Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh and British pianist Gwilym Simcock.
“AN EVENING WITH PAT METHENY”
with Antonio Sanchez, Linda May Han Oh & Gwilym Simcock
RIVERSIDE THEATRE, PERTH | WEDNESDAY MARCH 4
PALAIS THEATRE, MELBOURNE | FRIDAY MARCH 6
STATE THEATRE, SYDNEY | SATURDAY MARCH 7
Of the forthcoming shows, Metheny says: “It could really be anything and everything. I have already written a bunch of new music which we recorded and will be released early 2020, inspired just by the thought of this presentation, but I could also imagine playing only old music one night… I like the idea of keeping it open and letting it become whatever it winds up being over the course of a tour.
“At this stage, I have so much music and it all is kind of one big thing for me without borders or distinctions between this period or that period. With Antonio, Linda and Gwilym, I think we could and will do a wide range of things from throughout all of it – and maybe uncover what the next period has in store as well.”
Pat Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974 displaying his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility – a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing and the blues. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional “jazz guitar” sound for a new generation of players.
Inducted into the Downbeat Hall of Fame in 2015 as its youngest-ever member and only the fourth guitarist (joining Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery), Metheny has throughout his career continued to redefine the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument.
Metheny has spent much of his life on tour, often doing more than 100 shows a year since becoming a bandleader in the 70s. He continues to be one of the brightest stars of the music scenes today.