An in-depth exploration of the style and influence of Pat Metheny, a truly distinctive musical voice of our time.

Guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, among the most acclaimed, visionary musicians of our time, has for five decades toured with his many creative musical projects, most prominently the Pat Metheny Group, while collaborating with celebrated artists, including Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman, and Steve Reich.

Bob Gluck, whose perspective as pianist, composer, and educator has illuminated the music of Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis in his two previous books, now focuses his lens on the music of Metheny. Neither a biography nor chronological record of Metheny’s musical output, Pat Metheny: Stories beyond Words instead captures Metheny’s self-conception as a musician and the threads that unite and distinguish his creative process. Drawing upon a wealth of new interviews and close readings of musical examples, Gluck offers a bird’s-eye view of Metheny’s musical ideas. Among these are the metaphor of storytelling, the complementarity of simplicity and complexity, and the integrated roles of composer, performer, and band leader. Much like Metheny’s signature style, this book is accessible to a wide range of readers, presenting new clarity, musical insight, and historical perspective about the legacy of Metheny’s groundbreaking music. 

 

Bob Gluck is professor emeritus at the University at Albany, and author of You’ll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band and The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles, both also published by the University of Chicago Press. He has released twelve recordings of jazz and electroacoustic music on the FMR, Ictus, and EMF labels.
 

Preface

Introduction
Chapter 1. Neither This nor That
Chapter 2. Stories We Listen To
Chapter 3. New Ideas about Musical Form
Chapter 4. Motif and Improvisation
Chapter 5. Developing That Sound: Guitars and Sonic Space
Chapter 6. Pat Metheny Group as an Expression of an Unfolding Idea
Chapter 7. Drummers and Wordless Vocals
Chapter 8. The Way Up and Reflections on the Pat Metheny Group
Chapter 9. Listening Interpretively: “America Undefined” and “Is This America? (katrina 2005)”

Appendix 1. Remarkable Sounds: Manzer Guitars, the Roland Synthesizer in Non-PMG Settings, and Sonic Density
Appendix 2. The Way Up: A Closer Look at an Extended Form
Notes
Bibliography
Discography
Index