Pat Metheny -

Pat Metheny is an American jazz guitarist who released thirteen group and solo albums on ECM (1976–1984), followed by titles on Geffen. His best-known cuts include the 1978 fusion staple “Phase Dance,” the 1985 soundtrack ballad “This Is Not America” (a collaboration with David Bowie), and the 1989 smooth-jazz number “Slip Away.”

Background

He was born Patrick Bruce Metheny on August 12, 1954, to a musical family in Lee’s Summit, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri.

On June 16, 1974, Metheny partook in a jam session at Soho’s Blue Rock Studio with pianist Paul Bley, bassist Jaco Pastorius, and drummer Bruce Ditmas. In light of Jaco’s subsequent breakout profile, Bley issued the session in 1976 on Improvising Artists Inc.

Bright Size Life

Pat Metheny released his debut solo album, Bright Size Life, in March 1976 on ECM.

Bright Size Life introduces Metheny’s signature harmonic vocabulary with a clean-toned electric sound, concise structures, and a lyricism rooted in Midwestern sensibilities. The trio format supports elastic interplay and understated rhythmic shifts, with compositions moving between buoyant themes and spacious reveries.

Metheny plays six-string and electric twelve-string guitar. He’s joined by Jaco Pastorius on bass and Bob Moses on drums. Metheny composed seven tracks and closed the set with an Ornette Coleman number, “Round Trip/Broadway Blues.”

Bright Size Life opens with controlled momentum and an angular theme that shifts quickly between melodic phrasing and intervallic leaps, while Jaco Pastorius threads fretless counterlines with percussive turns and gliding harmonics. “Sirabhorn” stretches into slower terrain with double-tracked twelve-string guitar lines that widen the frame into expansive voicings and sustain-heavy phrases. “Midwestern Nights Dream” is the album’s stillest point—an atmospheric, suspended piece where Metheny’s phrasing lingers in luminous open chords, traced by faint cymbal movement. “Unquity Road” builds from a lurching, asymmetrical pulse into a sharp-edged, odd-metered sequence that evokes jagged exchanges reminiscent of early Mahavishnu.

“Missouri Uncompromised” moves briskly through brisk changes, with Metheny’s clean articulation wrapping around sudden rhythmic pivots and swift melodic breaks. “Omaha Celebration” pairs stabilizing low-end motion with staggered guitar phrasing, while “Unity Village” closes Side A with meditative, harmonically looped figures that emphasize Metheny’s early fondness for scalar patterning and delay-enhanced layering. The album ends with a freeform trio take on Ornette Coleman’s “Round Trip/Broadway Blues,” where roles blur in kinetic group motion—Metheny and Pastorius trade functions, and Bob Moses pushes the trio into volatile, off-axis cadences.

A1. “Bright Size Life” (4:45)
A2. “Sirabhorn” (5:27)
A3. “Unity Village” (3:38)
A4. “Missouri Uncompromised” (4:13)

B1. “Midwestern Nights Dream” (6:00)
B2. “Unquity Road” (3:36)
B3. “Omaha Celebration” (4:17)
B4. “Round Trip/Broadway Blues” (4:58) — written by Ornette Coleman

Sessions took place in December 1975 at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Produced by Manfred Eicher with engineering by Martin Wieland. Cover photography by Rainer Kiedrowski; back cover by Roberto Masotti. Liner notes dated December 21, 1975, by Gary Burton. Layout by Dieter Bonhorst.

Watercolors

Pat Metheny released his second album, Watercolors, in June 1977 on ECM.

Watercolors expands Metheny’s tonal palette with layered acoustic textures and compositional development that leans toward suite form and modal flow. The album integrates gauzy piano harmonies, spacious phrasing, and harp-like resonance across a sequence that favors contrast between open landscapes and fluid transitions.

Metheny plays standard, twelve-string, and fifteen-string harp guitar. Lyle Mays makes his ECM debut on piano. Bassist Eberhard Weber and drummer Dan Gottlieb complete the lineup. Metheny composed all nine pieces, including the two-part suite “Florida Greeting Song / Legend of the Fountain.”

Watercolors moves between gently propelled ensemble writing and slower, open‑framed passages that favor space over density. The title track sets the tone with a relaxed, mid‑tempo pulse, piano lines circling in soft arcs while cymbals trace light, shifting patterns beneath Metheny’s clean, sustained phrases. “Icefire” darkens the palette, unfolding at a measured pace with cooler harmonies and a restrained dynamic that leans toward inward motion rather than release.

Shorter pieces like “Oasis” and “Lakes” rely on uncluttered arrangements, where piano voicings and bass movement shape the contour more than overt rhythmic drive. “River Quay” settles into an even, unhurried flow built on repeating figures, while the closing “Sea Song” stretches into a long, brooding arc, its gradual development anchored by expansive piano chords and patient bass lines, with Metheny’s guitar entering sparingly to color the edges rather than lead the motion.

A1. “Watercolors” (6:28)
A2. “Icefire” (6:07)
A3. “Oasis” (4:02)
A4. “Lakes” (4:43)

B1. “River Quay” (4:56)
B2a. “I. Florida Greeting Song” (2:30)
B2b. “II. Legend of the Fountain” (2:28)
B3. “Sea Song” (10:16)

Sessions took place in February 1977 at Talent Studio in Oslo. Produced by Manfred Eicher and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Cover photography by Lajos Keresztes; layout by Dieter Bonhorst.

Pat Metheny Group

The Pat Metheny Group released their self-titled debut album in March 1978 on ECM.

Pat Metheny Group introduces a more collaborative framework, defined by intertwining melodic motifs and richly layered textures. The album combines bright, syncopated themes with drifting interludes and dynamic contrast, establishing a sound centered on interplay between electric guitar and keyboards over flowing bass and understated drums.

Metheny plays six- and twelve-string guitar. Lyle Mays handles piano, Oberheim synthesizer, and autoharp. Drummer Dan Gottlieb returns, anchored this time by bassist Mark Egan. Metheny composed five tracks. Mays co-wrote “San Lorenzo,” “Phase Dance,” and “Lone Jack.”

Pat Metheny Group centers on extended forms that favor gradual build over abrupt contrast, with texture and pacing doing most of the structural work. “San Lorenzo” unfolds in long arcs, opening with interlaced piano chords and guitar harmonics before expanding through controlled rises and falls that never settle into a fixed intensity. “Phase Dance” shifts emphasis toward a more contoured thematic line, modulating as the interplay swells and thins, then reconverges in a muted, compressed passage near the close.

“Jaco” tightens the frame with more direct exchanges and conventional solo turns, briefly increasing forward motion before dissolving into haze. “Aprilwind” functions as a short acoustic threshold, setting up “April Joy,” which moves through a calm central plateau before rebuilding toward a layered reprise that gathers momentum without crowding the texture. “Lone Jack” closes the record at a moderate pace, cycling through understated variations rather than chasing a climactic peak, leaving the album suspended in tone and color rather than resolution.

A1. “San Lorenzo” (10:14) — written by Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays
A2. “Phase Dance” (8:18) — written by Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays

B1. “Jaco” (5:34)
B2. “Aprilwind” (2:09)
B3. “April Joy” (8:14)
B4. “Lone Jack” (6:41) — written by Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays

Sessions took place in January 1978 at Talent Studio in Oslo. Produced by Manfred Eicher and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Cover photography by Roberto Masotti; layout and design by B. Wojirsch.

New Chautauqua

Pat Metheny released his third solo album, New Chautauqua, in March 1979 on ECM.

New Chautauqua emphasizes overdubbed acoustic layers and solitary textures, presenting a solo format that blurs the line between folk impressionism and spacious modal improvisation. The pieces unfold with a sense of open geography, alternating between meditative stasis and cyclical repetition.

Metheny performs all instruments, including acoustic guitar, electric six- and twelve-string guitar, fifteen-string harp guitar, and electric bass. He composed all six tracks.

New Chautauqua shifts between weightless stillness and quiet propulsion, with Metheny layering acoustic and electric textures in a format that leaves space for nuance and subtle gradation. The title track builds from a midtempo figure into gently overlaid twelve-string phrases, steady but never urgent, with chiming tones stretched across a wide spatial field. “Long-Ago Child / Fallen Star” retreats into darker phrasing—delicate and measured, but knotted in more ambiguous contours, lacking the open-air optimism that frames the opener.

“Hermitage” floats in a similar register, but with a firmer internal pulse. “Sueño Con Mexico” drifts on cycling arpeggios and harmonic flourishes that rise and dissipate like reflections in shifting light, its pacing soft but unbroken. “Daybreak” circles back to the album’s most radiant tone, balancing steel-string articulation against gently layered resonance, and closing the set with the same sense of calm forward motion it began with. Metheny’s restraint and control hold each piece within narrow emotional bands, but within that span, small changes carry weight.

A1. “New Chautauqua” (5:17)
A2. “Country Poem” (2:31)
A3. “Long-Ago Child / Fallen Star” (10:17)

B1. “Hermitage” (5:37)
B2. “Sueño Con Mexico” (5:36)
B3. “Daybreak” (8:40)

Sessions took place in August 1978 at Talent Studio in Oslo. Produced by Manfred Eicher and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Cover photo and design by Dieter Rehm; inner photo by Joji Sawa.

American Garage

The Pat Metheny Group released their second album, American Garage, in November 1979 on ECM.

American Garage shifts toward a more rhythmic and compressed format, with brighter tonal settings and tighter thematic development. The album blends lyrical phrasing with rock-influenced momentum, culminating in an extended multi-part closer that contrasts melodic fragments with denser group interplay.

Metheny plays six- and twelve-string guitar. Lyle Mays performs on piano, organ, autoharp, and Oberheim synthesizer, anchored by the Mark Egan/Dan Gottlieb rhythm section. Metheny and Mays co-composed all five tracks.

American Garage contrasts tightly structured ensemble writing with extended improvisational segments, pivoting between burst-driven energy and cleanly layered motifs. “(Cross The) Heartland” opens with bright pacing and wide-interval guitar lines that settle into rolling piano shifts and bass phrasing that traces the core rhythm with subtle variation. “Airstream” leans back into a slower, open texture that prioritizes space and drift, with electric piano and cymbals filling the midrange behind Metheny’s gradually climbing figures. “The Search” circles a more static central pulse, but introduces delayed guitar lines and textural interplay before dispersing into clipped motifs.

The title track pushes with sharp transitions and shifting rhythmic emphasis, moving between tight unison bursts and solo stretches over walking bass and accentuated snare punctuation. “The Epic” closes the set in multipart construction, building through fluctuating tempos, recapitulated themes, and long solo arcs, with Mays’ piano threading harmonic density under Metheny’s upper-register flights. Rhythmic drive recedes and returns in waves, with pauses, accelerations, and locked interplay forming the record’s most open and expansive moment.

A1. “(Cross The) Heartland” (6:49)
A2. “Airstream” (6:14)
A3. “The Search” (4:45)

B1. “American Garage” (4:08)
B2. “The Epic” (12:55)

Sessions took place in June 1979 at Long View Farm Studios in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Produced by Pat Metheny with executive production by Manfred Eicher. Engineered by Kent Nebergall with assistant Jesse Henderson. Cover photography by Joel Meyerowitz; back and inner photography by Rob Van Petten; design by Basil Pao.

80 / 81

Pat Metheny released his sixth overall album, the two-record 80 / 81, in 1980 on ECM.

80/81 presents a transatlantic quintet spanning generations of American improvisers in a program that alternates composed frameworks with extended group interaction. The album contrasts warm ensemble passages with pointillist duos, fragmented unisons, and open sections shaped by shared intuition. Across four sides, it maps a wide terrain from folktone ballads to post-Ornette dialogues.

Metheny plays in a trio setting with bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Dewey Redman plays tenor saxophone on four tracks, and Michael Brecker appears on five.

Metheny composed six pieces. Haden wrote “Two Folk Songs: 2nd,” Ornette Coleman composed “Turnaround,” and the quintet collectively authored “Open,” with Metheny credited for its final theme.

80/81 stretches across contrasting zones of clarity and dissonance, with Metheny steering an improviser’s ensemble through structured heads, open-ended sections, and tonal departures. “Two Folk Songs” unfolds in extended arcs—Part I led by rhythmic clarity and a steady guitar line that repeats with shifting voicings, Part II less defined, broken into staggered phrasing as Haden and Brecker pivot between harmony and tension. “The Bat” compresses inward with lyrical pacing, while “Turnaround” adopts a looser, walking cadence that favors group interplay over solo spotlight.

“Open” spans the widest form, fragmenting into sustained saxophone blasts and terse guitar bursts, held together by DeJohnette’s shifting pulse and eventual convergence around a Metheny-sketched final theme. “Pretty Scattered” is pointillist and harmonically evasive, flaring up in brief accelerations. “Every Day (I Thank You)” returns to brighter shapes—spacious, deliberate, underpinned by Haden’s grounding lines and Metheny’s clean phrasing. The solo closer “Goin’ Ahead” pares everything back to open voicings and cyclical fingerwork, ending the album with quiet resolution.

A1. “Two Folk Songs: 1st” (13:17) — written by Pat Metheny
A2. “Two Folk Songs: 2nd” (7:31) — written by Charlie Haden
B1. “80/81” (7:28)
B2. “The Bat” (5:58)
B3. “Turnaround” (7:05) — written by Ornette Coleman

C1. “Open” (14:25) — written by Redman, Haden, DeJohnette, Brecker, Metheny; final theme by Pat Metheny
C2. “Pretty Scattered” (6:56)
D1. “Every Day (I Thank You)” (13:16)
D2. “Goin’ Ahead” (3:56)

Sessions took place May 26–29, 1980, at Talent Studio in Oslo. Produced by Manfred Eicher and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Inside photography by Rainer Drechsler; back cover photo by Dag Alveng; design by Barbara Wojirsch.

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls

Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays released a joint-credited album, As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, on April 27, 1981, on ECM.

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls builds immersive tonal environments from overlapping electronic textures and cyclical rhythmic motifs. Structured around a twenty-minute title suite, the album moves between ambient overlays, lyrical cadences, and Brazilian-inspired colorations, balancing long-form development with brief, melodic statements.

Metheny plays electric, six- and twelve-string acoustic guitar, and bass. Mays performs on piano, synthesizer, organ, and autoharp. Nana Vasconcelos contributes berimbau, drums, percussion, and vocals. Metheny and Mays co-composed all five tracks.

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls opens with its 20-minute title piece, a layered suite shaped around slow-looped textures and sustained keyboard chords that drift beneath echo-laced guitar filigree and detuned voice fragments. The pacing unfolds gradually, swelling from submerged ambience to a loose middle section where phrased motifs interlock with staccato electronic patterns and burst into brief rhythmic episodes before the sound thins back to a soft haze.

“Ozark” rotates around a short, repeated keyboard phrase while acoustic guitar adds dry strums and restrained solo lines, its clipped pacing contrasting with the wider temporal space of the opener. “September Fifteenth” shifts the palette to sparse piano and processed electric guitar, with open voicings and slow, brushed accents shaping a ballad-like elegy. “It’s for You” moves in sharper contrast, centering on a circular guitar figure with rapid piano counterpoints and sudden percussive breaks, its driving rhythm tighter and more assertive than anything prior. “Estupenda Graça” closes the album with understated chords and pulsed repetitions that cycle over a held pedal tone, dissolving the earlier motion into a final suspended mood.

A. “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls” (20:44)
B1. “Ozark” (4:03)
B2. “September Fifteenth (Dedicated to Bill Evans)” (7:44)
B3. “It’s for You” (8:20)
B4. “Estupenda Graça” (2:40)

Sessions took place in September 1980 at Talent Studio in Oslo. Produced by Manfred Eicher and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Cover photography by Klaus Frahm; liner photo by Rob van Petten; design by Barbara Wojirsch.

Offramp

The Pat Metheny Group released their third studio album, Offramp, in May 1982 on ECM.

Offramp expands the group’s sonic vocabulary with synthesized textures, shifting meters, and voice-as-instrument phrasing. The album integrates guitar synthesizer and Synclavier electronics with rhythmic dialogue and hybridized idioms, balancing lyrical phrasing with angular motifs and layered harmonic voicings.

Metheny plays electric and Synclavier guitar. Lyle Mays’ arsenal includes piano, organ, autoharp, synthesizer, and Synclavier. Steve Rodby plays acoustic and electric bass, anchored by drummer Danny Gottlieb. Nana Vasconcelos contributes percussion, berimbau, and vocal elements. Metheny and Mays co-composed five tracks. Vasconcelos is credited on “Barcarole” and “Eighteen.” “Offramp” was engineered separately by Gragg Lunsford.

Offramp opens with “Barcarole,” a suspended, open-ended theme with minimal pulse and airy harmonics under Towner’s lead lines, which rise slowly from the texture with restrained sustain and echo. “Pitter Patter” uses staggered interplay between short, accented percussion bursts and darting soprano phrases, occasionally breaking for sudden stops and low-register chord swells. “Silence of a Candle” stretches a faint upper-register motif across a static, open field, where the absence of forward motion highlights breathy phrasing and long-tone intervals.

On “Duende,” the group uses dynamic variation and close-voiced overlap, building in and out of mid-tempo stasis with clustered guitar chords and slow-rising soprano shapes. “The Donkey Jamboree” contrasts dry, angular stabs with rapid cymbal motion, then slips into an off-center, asymmetric march with jagged turns and cut-off phrases. Across the album, tempo and structure remain elastic; the quartet moves between free-floating textures, syncopated pulse fragments, and dense passages with sharp tonal contrast and varied instrumental voicing.

A1. “Barcarole” (3:17) — written by Mays, Metheny, Vasconcelos
A2. “Are You Going With Me?” (8:47) — written by Mays, Metheny
A3. “Au Lait” (8:32) — written by Mays, Metheny

B1. “Eighteen” (5:08) — written by Mays, Metheny, Vasconcelos
B2. “Offramp” (5:59) — written by Mays, Metheny
B3. “James” (6:47) — written by Mays, Metheny
B4. “The Bat Part II” (3:50) — written by Mays, Metheny

Basic tracks were recorded in October 1981 at Power Station, New York, with additional engineering by Gragg Lunsford (B2). Mixed at Talent Studio, Oslo, by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Assistant engineering by Barry Bongiovi. Produced by Manfred Eicher. Liner photos by Deborah Feingold; cover graphic by Gerd Winner; layout by Dieter Rehm.

Travels

In 1983, the Pat Metheny Group released Travels, a live ECM double-album sourced from summer/autumn 1982 US tour dates.

Travels documents the group’s evolving stage dynamic with extended treatments of past studio material and newly introduced compositions. Performances balance lyricism and fluid ensemble interplay, with spacious synth washes, vocal percussion textures, and alternating moments of restraint and propulsion. The set includes live renditions of “Phase Dance,” “San Lorenzo,” and “Are You Going With Me?” alongside new works like “Song for Bilbao,” “Extradition,” and the title track.

Metheny plays guitar and guitar synthesizer. Lyle Mays plays piano, organ, autoharp, synthesizers, and Synclavier. Steve Rodby covers acoustic and electric bass and bass synth. Naná Vasconcelos contributes berimbau, percussion, and vocals. Drummer Danny Gottlieb rounds out the lineup.

Metheny and Mays co-composed the entire set, with sole credits to Mays on six pieces.

A1. “Are You Going With Me?” (9:20) — written by Mays
A2. “The Fields, The Sky” (7:50)
A3. “Goodbye” (8:15)
B1. “Phase Dance” (8:05) — written by Mays
B2. “Straight On Red” (7:27) — written by Mays
B3. “Farmer’s Trust” (6:27)

C1. “Extradition” (5:42)
C2. “Goin’ Ahead / As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls” (16:24)
C2-1. “Goin’ Ahead”
C2-2. “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls” — written by Mays
D1. “Travels” (5:04) — written by Mays
D2. “Song for Bilbao” (8:27)
D3. “San Lorenzo” (13:38) — written by Mays

Recordings were captured in July, October, and November 1982 at concerts in Dallas (TX), Philadelphia (PA), Sacramento (CA), and Nacogdoches (TX). Mixed at Talent Studio, Oslo, by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Live recording engineered by Randy Ezratty with assistant Gary Geller. Produced by Manfred Eicher and Pat Metheny. Photography by Dieter Rehm, Milan Horacek, Dieter Jähnig, and Ron Pownall; cover design by Dieter Rehm.

First Circle

The Pat Metheny Group released their fourth studio album, First Circle, in 1984 on ECM.

First Circle marks a stylistic broadening of the group’s palette with shifting meters, layered voicings, and expanded rhythmic vocabulary. The album introduces multipart vocal textures, folkloric percussion, and digital synthesis techniques, resulting in compositions that alternate between driving, cyclic motion and reflective interludes. The title track pivots on an 11/8 time signature with phased rhythmic entrances, while the suite-like sequence culminates in the harmonically luminous “Praise.”

Metheny plays electric, acoustic, twelve-string, slide, and Synclavier guitar. Lyle Mays performs on piano, organ, Oberheim, and multiple synthesizers. Steve Rodby alternates between acoustic and electric bass. Paul Wertico debuts on drums. Pedro Aznar contributes voice, bells, percussion, whistle, sitar, and nylon-string guitar. Metheny and Mays co-composed all eight pieces, with lyrical contributions by Aznar on “Más Allá.”

First Circle opens with “Forward March,” where reversed trumpet lines and staggered keyboard pulses lurch across an off-kilter snare march, collapsing into dissonance before a warped anthem takes shape over grinding low-end accents. “Yolanda, You Learn” moves briskly on Steve Rodby’s fast, rounded bassline, with Lyle Mays alternating between sharp, cyclical piano motifs and crisp synth flashes. “The First Circle” builds from handclaps and phased vocalizations into a shifting 22-beat cycle, where Danny Gottlieb’s polyrhythmic cymbal play supports angular, extended runs from Pat Metheny’s chorused guitar.

“If I Could” floats on sustained, minor-key piano chords and faint synth layers as Metheny traces a long, bowed-like lead over Paul Wertico’s sparse accents. “Tell It All” rides a tense, ascending pattern that breaks into a kinetic climax with flute-like guitar and layered keyboard figures trading short bursts before a final unison ascent. “End of the Game” closes on a slow, syncopated pulse, anchored by percussion and fretless bass, as the theme unfolds in wide phrases that taper off without resolution.

A1. “Forward March” (2:47)
A2. “Yolanda, You Learn” (4:43)
A3. “The First Circle” (9:10)
A4. “If I Could” (6:54)

B1. “Tell It All” (7:55)
B2. “End of the Game” (7:57)
B3. “Más Allá (Beyond)” (5:37)
B4. “Praise” (4:19)

Sessions took place February 15–19, 1984, at Power Station, New York. Produced by Pat Metheny and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug with assistant engineer Rob Eaton. Lacquer cut by Rog at Wakefield Manufacturing (pressing code 43585). Cover design by Barbara Wojirsch. Photography by Juan Castagnola, Paul Natkin, and William Clift. Production assistants included David Oakes, Jerry Radas, Niki Gatos, Tom Sheehan, and Vance Anderson.

Rejoicing

Pat Metheny teamed with Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins on the group-credited Rejoicing, released 1984 on ECM. Sessions occurred on November 29–30, 1983, at New York’s Power Station.

Rejoicing explores understated trio interaction rooted in the lineage of Ornette Coleman’s rhythm section tradition. The album balances loose, melodic phrasing and brushed textures with moments of extended line weaving and dynamic stillness. Metheny’s original compositions stand alongside works by Coleman, Horace Silver, and Haden, yielding a tone of intimacy and lyrical restraint.

Metheny composed two tracks and co-wrote “Waiting for an Answer” with Haden, who contributed “Blues for Pat.” They also perform three Ornette Coleman pieces and the Horace Silver tune “Lonely Woman.”

Rejoicing unfolds in two phases—side one circles around stillness and restraint, while side two opens into charged abstraction. The trio—Metheny, Haden, and Higgins—enters with measured quietude on “Lonely Woman,” where guitar lines drift over a sparse, slow pulse, their intervals stretched and held. “Tears Inside” and “Humpty Dumpty” continue this subdued pace, the former taking a circular, inward-leaning phrasing while the latter plays off staggered rhythm breaks and clipped counterpoint.

“Story From a Stranger” begins side two with a subtle shift—Metheny switches to synth guitar, bending lines upward with soft dissonance, pushed gently by Higgins’ shifting brushwork. “The Calling” erupts with unrelieved tension: Higgins careens through restless bursts, and Metheny’s distorted tones spiral out in sustained arcs, colored by feedback and sharp contour. “Waiting for an Answer” closes the album in near-stillness—a soft postlude after the previous track’s tempest. Across the record, the trio shifts from poised intimacy to high-voltage intensity, each section shaped by contrast and tightly controlled escalation.

A1. “Lonely Woman” (6:45) — written by Horace Silver
A2. “Tears Inside” (3:47) — written by Ornette Coleman
A3. “Humpty Dumpty” (5:36) — written by Ornette Coleman
A4. “Blues for Pat” (6:00) — written by Charlie Haden
A5. “Rejoicing” (3:14) — written by Ornette Coleman

B1. “Story from a Stranger” (5:48) — written by Pat Metheny
B2. “The Calling” (9:52) — written by Pat Metheny
B3. “Waiting for an Answer” (2:16) — written by Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny

Sessions took place November 29–30, 1983, at Power Station, New York. Produced by Manfred Eicher and engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug. Lacquer cut and pressing by PRS Hannover. Cover design by Barbara Wojirsch; photography by Rob Van Petten.

The Falcon and the Snowman

In February 1985, the Pat Metheny Group released The Falcon and the Snowman, the EMI soundtrack to the title-sake Cold War espionage drama starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton.

The Falcon and the Snowman marks the group’s first film score project, integrating orchestral arrangements with ambient textures, thematic motifs, and subdued rhythmic passages. The album juxtaposes narrative instrumentals with the vocal centerpiece “This Is Not America,” a David Bowie collaboration built on a sparse harmonic frame and lyrical understatement. Several themes reappear in variation, bridged by cinematic transitions and orchestrated interludes.

Metheny plays electric and acoustic guitar and serves as producer. Lyle Mays performs on piano and synthesizer and acts as co-producer on all group tracks. Steve Rodby plays bass and conducts the orchestral segments. Paul Wertico appears on drums and percussion. Pedro Aznar contributes vocals to two tracks. The National Philharmonic Orchestra is featured on four selections. Metheny and Mays composed all tracks except “This Is Not America,” co-written with David Bowie.

The Falcon and the Snowman opens with “Psalm 121 / Flight of the Falcon,” where layered synthesizers, wordless choir, and ambient strings establish a slow-building overture. Sparse percussion and distant keyboard clusters shift the texture toward a more dissonant center before the piece folds back into choral sustain. “Daulton Lee” contrasts sharply, built on short, syncopated keyboard loops and soft electric percussion that swell under Pedro Aznar’s vocal phrasing. “Chris” mirrors “This Is Not America” structurally, but with the vocal removed, its pulsing pads and steady mid-tempo rhythm reduced to exposed instrumental phrasing. “The Falcon” follows with sharper accenting and more agitated phrasing—Aznar’s vocals move through wide intervals while synth textures clash and reset behind him in clipped cycles.

“Extent of the Lie” and “The Level of Deception” shift the mood toward stark minimalism, with bowed string passages drifting over percussion that slips in and out of time. “Capture” sustains low-volume tension through pulsing ostinati and sparse electronic punctuation. “Epilogue (Psalm 121)” returns the album to its opening tonality, now muted and thinned, closing the sequence in slow decay. Scattered across these instrumentals, Metheny’s guitar alternates between delayed swells and restrained single-note phrasing, while Mays’ keyboards define the pacing with alternating calm and claustrophobic density.

A1. “Psalm 121 / Flight of the Falcon” (4:08)
A2. “Daulton Lee” (5:56)
A3. “Chris” (3:16)
A4. “The Falcon” (7:14)
B1. “This Is Not America” (3:53) — David Bowie with Pat Metheny Group; written by Bowie, Metheny, Mays
B2. “Extent of the Lie” (4:15)
B3. “The Level of Deception” (5:45)
B4. “Capture” (3:57)
B5. “Epilogue (Psalm 121)” (2:14)

Sessions took place in September 1984 at Odyssey Studios and Abbey Road Studios, London, and Power Station, New York. Produced by Pat Metheny with co-production by Lyle Mays (all group tracks). “This Is Not America” produced by David Bowie, mixed by Bob Clearmountain, and mastered by Bob Ludwig. Art direction by Henry Marquez; design by Carol Chen. Photography by Howard Rosenberg and Lisa Powers.

Song X

Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman released a collaborative album, Song X, in 1986 on Geffen.

Song X documents a high-intensity exchange between Metheny’s digital voicings and Coleman’s harmolodic phrasing. Recorded live in-studio over three days, the album layers dual drummers with sharp, reactive interplay and contrast between tonal centers and microtonal textures. Metheny employs guitar synthesizer as both solo and ambient voice, while Coleman alternates between searing alto lines and skeletal melodic cells. The program ranges from pointillistic duos to extended freeform excursions.

Metheny plays guitar and guitar synthesizer and co-produces the album. Coleman plays alto saxophone throughout, plus violin on “Mob Job.” Denardo Coleman and Jack DeJohnette alternate and overlap on drums and percussion. Charlie Haden plays bass throughout. Coleman composed five tracks and co-wrote three with Metheny.

Song X pairs Pat Metheny with Ornette Coleman for an ensemble session that drives relentlessly through dense, high-speed improvisation and shifting rhythmic interplay. The title track opens the album with jagged guitar-sax phrasings over a disorienting rhythmic churn. Both soloists stretch phrase shapes over fragmented accents, underpinned by Jack DeJohnette and Denardo Coleman’s overlapping kit patterns that avoid fixed pulse in favor of continuous motion. “Mob Job” reins in the pace with a more spacious form, structured around mid-tempo blues figures that give Metheny and Ornette room to stretch into more lyrical phrasing—Metheny alternating between acoustic patterns and clipped electric lines, while Coleman switches from sax to violin in his solo.

“Endangered Species” sustains a more oppressive tone, the longest track on the album, moving in waves of feverish intensity where guitar synth and double drums collide in spiraling, sometimes abrasive layers. Metheny’s guitar textures here skew metallic and dense, often blurring harmonic boundaries. “Video Games” picks up the digital mimicry introduced earlier, layering skittering synth guitar motifs against stop-start drum fills before yielding to Ornette’s piercing saxophone runs. “Kathelin Gray” breaks the pattern entirely with an understated, lyrical ballad built from simple scalar motion, shaped gently through conversational interplay between guitar and alto.

The second half of the album eases the pace, though not the tension. “Trigonometry” operates in staggered mid-tempo, with walking bass and dual drummers circling in uneven phrases. Metheny slips angular accents over a shifting beat, with one drummer locked into metric time while the other deliberately subverts it. “Song X Duo” strips back to just Metheny and Coleman, revisiting the title motif with measured clarity. Here, at a more human tempo, the phrasing and thematic outline become apparent, revealing the structure buried under the album’s earlier chaos. “Long Time No See” closes with sustained tension and muted propulsion, incorporating electronic drums, long-tone sax phrasing, and guitar synth swells—an epilogue that doesn’t resolve so much as dissipate.

A1. “Song X” (5:36) — written by Ornette Coleman
A2. “Mob Job” (4:07) — written by Ornette Coleman
A3. “Endangered Species” (13:16) — written by Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny
B1. “Video Games” (5:17) — written by Ornette Coleman
B2. “Kathelin Gray” (4:13) — written by Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny
B3. “Trigonometry” (5:08) — written by Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny
B4. “Song X Duo” (3:10) — written by Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny
B5. “Long Time No See” (7:39) — written by Ornette Coleman

Recorded live December 12–14, 1985, at The Power Station, New York. Engineered by Jan Erik Kongshaug with mixing by Kongshaug and Rob Eaton. Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk. Produced by Pat Metheny with production assistance from David Oakes and Niki Gatos. Cover design by Norman Moore; photography by David A. Cantor.

The bonus tracks add tonal breadth. “Police People” alternates solos between Metheny and Coleman over a brighter rhythmic bed, keeping separation rather than overlap between voices. “The Good Life” slips into buoyant phrasing with calypso-like syncopation, evoking loose Caribbean flow before breaking into staccato exchanges. “Compute” and “Video Games” share timbral traits—sharp digital bursts from Metheny’s synth guitar that mimic arcade sound cues, often timed with sudden drum stabs or tonal shifts. “The Veil” blends lyrical and dissonant fragments into overlapping lines that tangle and resolve mid-flight. Shorter pieces like “All of Us” act more as sketches, while “Word From Bird” revives the sax-guitar conversation format with tighter thematic unison. Together, the extras reinforce the session’s focus on interplay, contrast, and speed-driven experimentation, but offer more contrast in mood and pacing than the original LP sequence.

1. “Police People” (4:57)
2. “All of Us” (0:15)
3. “The Good Life” (3:25)
4. “Word From Bird” (3:48)
5. “Compute” (2:03)
6. “The Veil” (3:42)

Still Life (Talking)

The Pat Metheny Group released their fifth studio album, Still Life (Talking), on July 7, 1987, on Geffen.

Still Life (Talking) introduces Brazilian rhythmic forms and layered vocal textures into the group’s studio framework, expanding the ensemble’s scope with interlocking percussion, synth-based arrangements, and chant-like refrains. The album blends shifting meters with smooth transitions, contrasting the extended metric sweep of “Minuano” with atmospheric vignettes and pulse-driven structures like “Third Wind” and “(It’s Just) Talk.”

Metheny plays guitar and guitar synthesizer and co-produces the album. Lyle Mays performs piano and keyboards, serving as co-producer, composer, and arranger. Paul Wertico plays drums and acts as associate producer. Steve Rodby performs as bassist and associate producer. Armando Marçal contributes percussion and vocals. David Blamires and Mark Ledford provide layered vocals on select tracks. Metheny composed or co-composed all tracks. Mays co-wrote three selections.

Still Life (Talking) opens with “Minuano (Six Eight),” which stretches gradually from a quiet acoustic intro into a dense, layered section where bright upper-register guitar phrases lock with tightly synchronized chant vocals. This pairing swells over cyclical harmonic progressions before breaking into an accelerated rhythmic passage, energized by cymbal chatter and rising instrumental density. “So May It Secretly Begin” slows the pace, layering flute-like keyboard voicings under piano figures that drift with subtle dynamic turns. Metheny’s phrasing remains clipped and agile, shadowed by smooth vocal doubling.

“Last Train Home” revolves around a consistent snare pattern that mimics locomotive motion, with the guitar synthesizer supplying glassy sitar-like accents over an understated, rolling pulse. “(It’s Just) Talk” centers on a buoyant percussive framework with punctuated syncopations and blended vocals, peaking with Lyle Mays’ crisp piano solo that darts over rapid harmonic shifts. “Third Wind” starts with sharp rhythmic punctuation and shifting accents before unfolding into staccato guitar lines and call-and-response vocal motifs. Its final third settles into a steadier passage where layered synth textures and compressed guitar runs extend without much variation.

“Distance” halts the forward momentum with subdued keyboard swells and ambient shading that leads directly into “In Her Family,” a slow, reflective piano-based piece shaped by sparse phrasing and gradually thickening textures. As it builds, the layering of acoustic guitar and shimmering keyboard voicings gives the closing minutes a sense of inward release. Across the album, recurring elements—voice as instrument, rhythmic interplay, and textural build—are used with focused precision rather than embellishment.

A1. “Minuano (Six Eight)” (9:25) — written by Metheny, Mays
A2. “So May It Secretly Begin” (6:24)
A3. “Last Train Home” (5:38)

B1. “(It’s Just) Talk” (6:16)
B2. “Third Wind” (8:33) — written by Metheny, Mays
B3. “Distance” (2:43) — written by Mays
B4. “In Her Family” (3:15)

Sessions occurred March–April 1987 at Power Station, New York. Produced by Pat Metheny with associate producers Lyle Mays, Paul Wertico, Steve Rodby, David Oakes, and Steve Cantor. Engineered by Rob Eaton with assistance from Alexander Haas. Mastered by Bob Ludwig. Production assistance by Niki Gatos and Tom Sheehan. Cover design by M&Co. Photography by Alexander Brebner, Andy Freeberg, David Katzenstein, Neil Selkirk, and Phil Brodatz.

Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint

In 1989, Pat Metheny performed Electric Counterpoint, a Steve Reich suite released on a Nonesuch split record with the composer’s Different Trains, performed by the Kronos Quartet.

The album juxtaposes two Reich works for string quartet and electric guitar layered with tape loops and phased repetition. Different Trains draws on recorded speech fragments from Holocaust survivors and train conductors, integrated with string quartet lines that mirror speech intonation and rhythm, performed by Kronos Quartet. Electric Counterpoint presents Metheny in a multi-tracked solo setting, layering live electric guitar against a pre-recorded ensemble of guitar parts in three movements of interlocking rhythmic cells and harmonic cycles.

Pat Metheny performs all guitar parts on Electric Counterpoint (Side B). The Kronos Quartet—David Harrington and John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola), and Joan Jeanrenaud (cello)—perform Different Trains (Side A).

Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint presents two contrasting Reich works that each use repetition, shifting pulse, and layered phrasing toward different expressive ends. Different Trains builds from fragmented voice samples, ambient locomotive sounds, and tightly synchronized string figures. The first movement, “America – Before the War,” layers rising string arpeggios around short vocal phrases drawn from recollected train journeys. These clipped voices—looped and mirrored by the strings—echo over accelerating mechanical rhythms that subtly warp into irregular patterns. “Europe – During the War” introduces abrupt intervallic drops, sharper dissonances, and slower, more spacious pacing. Repeated string glissandi and whistling overtones trace the descent into a colder, more fractured texture. The music carries urgency and weight as samples veer into terse fragments—interrupted warnings and recollections punctuated by siren-like shifts in pitch. The final movement, “After the War,” returns some of the motifs from the opening, but their contour and voicing now feel suspended, tinged with unease. Each attempt at lift—violin rises or clipped voice repetitions—is followed by hesitation or sudden displacement.

A1. “America – Before the War” (8:59) — performed by Kronos Quartet
A2. “Europe – During the War” (7:31) — performed by Kronos Quartet
A3. “After the War” (10:20) — performed by Kronos Quartet

Electric Counterpoint resets the mood entirely. Pat Metheny’s layered guitar tracks pulse in staggered rhythmic loops that slowly accumulate over each other, forming delicate, interlocking lattices. In the “Fast” movement, plucked figures cycle with machine-like clarity until they break slightly from lockstep, introducing subtle timing discrepancies that sharpen the spatial interplay. The second movement, “Slow,” centers on sustained chords and suspended triads, allowing long decay and quiet reverberation to shape the phrasing more than rhythmic impulse. The third part reintroduces forward motion through lower-register pulse lines and offbeat strumming patterns, culminating in a brief key shift that gently pivots the entire harmonic field before retreating into soft symmetry. Together, these two works—one dense with historical weight, the other built on structural clarity—form a juxtaposition of memory and abstraction, urgency and stillness.

B1. “Fast” (6:51) — Electric Counterpoint Part I — performed by Pat Metheny
B2. “Slow” (3:21) — Electric Counterpoint Part II — performed by Pat Metheny
B3. “Fast” (4:29) — Electric Counterpoint Part III — performed by Pat Metheny

Different Trains was composed in 1988 and recorded August 31–September 9, 1988, at Russian Hill Recording, San Francisco. Electric Counterpoint was composed in 1987 and recorded September 26–October 1, 1987, at Power Station, New York. Produced by Judith Sherman. Electric Counterpoint co-produced by David Oakes. Engineering by Les Brockman (A1–A3) and Rob Eaton (B1–B3); mastering by Bob Ludwig. Art direction and design by Frank Olinsky and Manhattan Design. Cover photography by Karl Steinbrenner.

Letter From Home

The Pat Metheny Group released their sixth studio album, Letter From Home, on June 29, 1989, on Geffen.

Letter From Home continues the group’s Latin-influenced synthesis with fuller integration of folkloric instrumentation, melodic vocal elements, and interlocking rhythmic cycles. The album balances bright ensemble arrangements with textural vignettes and features expanded contributions from multi-instrumentalist Pedro Aznar, whose presence infuses the material with tonal variety. Pieces like “Have You Heard” and “Slip Away” combine harmonic clarity with layered phrasing, while shorter interludes (“45/8,” “Vidala”) offer rhythmic or tonal contrast.

Metheny plays acoustic, electric, twelve-string, soprano, and Synclavier guitar, as well as tipple and synthesizer. Lyle Mays contributes piano, organ, keyboards, Synclavier, accordion, and trumpet. Steve Rodby performs on acoustic and electric bass and co-produces. Paul Wertico appears on drums, caja, and additional percussion. Armando Marçal contributes auxiliary percussion. Pedro Aznar provides vocals, acoustic guitar, tenor saxophone, melodica, marimba, vibraphone, charango, and additional percussion.

Metheny composed most tracks. Mays co-wrote six selections and contributed “5-5-7,” “Beat 70,” and “Are We There Yet.” Aznar wrote “Vidala” and authored the Spanish lyrics on “Dream of the Return.”

Letter From Home opens with “Have You Heard,” built around rapid vocal-guitar unisons, clipped staccato phrasing, and a tightly interwoven synth line that locks into Lyle Mays’ call-and-response break. The mood softens on “Every Summer Night,” where syncopated piano clusters and suspended chords drift under Metheny’s contoured lead, switching between bright lifts and gentle descent. “Better Days Ahead” rides a brisk, layered rhythm that leans on percussion detail, marked by brief acoustic flurries and chant-like vocal inflection.

“Spring Ain’t Here” centers on Metheny’s filtered guitar lines that hover over a slow-moving harmonic base, with brushed cymbals and unhurried piano accents drawing the tension downward rather than forward. “5-5-7” alternates between crisp, horn-like synth voicings and staggered chordal fragments before Pedro Aznar’s vocal lines thread into the primary refrain. “Beat 70” keeps a low, buoyant pace, with steel drum-like percussion and accordion interjections circling the repeating theme. “Dream of the Return” sets Aznar’s vocal phrasing against slow chordal pulses and sparse piano, stretching each line with controlled emphasis over a wide harmonic field.

“Are We There Yet” flows through multiple sections—tight rhythmic fragmentation in the first half gives way to expansive, atmospheric layering in the second, with floating synth textures and held guitar tones replacing the earlier angularity. “Vidala” follows as a subdued pause, driven by tremolo vocal phrasing and thin ambient drift. “Slip Away” restores rhythmic motion through layered guitar loops, phased percussion, and wordless vocals, while “Letter from Home” closes with unadorned piano over static keyboard pads, tapering the record on a still and restrained cadence. Across the album, PMG tightens its integration of harmonic texture, pulse variation, and dynamic phrasing, often shifting fluidly between ornamental density and spacious release.

A1. “Have You Heard” (6:30)
A2. “Every Summer Night” (7:11)
A3. “Better Days Ahead” (3:06)
A4. “Spring Ain’t Here” (6:46)
A5. “45/8” (0:55)
A6. “5-5-7” (7:46) — written by Lyle Mays

B1. “Beat 70” (4:47) — written by Lyle Mays
B2. “Dream of the Return” (5:16) — lyrics by Pedro Aznar
B3. “Are We There Yet” (7:55) — written by Lyle Mays
B4. “Vidala” (3:04) — written by Pedro Aznar
B5. “Slip Away” (4:56)
B6. “Letter from Home” (2:35)

Recorded at Power Station, NYC. Produced by Pat Metheny with co-production by Lyle Mays and Steve Rodby. Engineered and recorded by Rob Eaton with assistant Bruce Calder; additional engineering by Roy Hendrickson. Mixed by Rob Eaton (A1, A2, A4, A6, B2, B6) and Alexander Haas (A3, A5, B1, B3–B5). Artwork and design by Diamond Art Studio and Shed; photography by Christopher Kehoe, Joji Sawa, Marc Katz, Mario Luiz Thompson, and Skip Brown.

The video to “Slip Away” received high rotation in late 1989 on VH-1.

Question and Answer

Pat Metheny teamed with Dave Holland and Roy Haynes on the group-credited Question and Answer, released in 1990 on Geffen.

Question and Answer presents Metheny in a trio setting with two elder jazz masters, emphasizing acoustic clarity, swing momentum, and concise melodic phrasing. The program blends modern originals with standards and repertory pieces, each rendered with fluid timing and harmonic responsiveness. The live-in-studio setting allows interplay to unfold with spontaneous precision, favoring tonal restraint and elastic rhythmic pulse.

Metheny plays electric guitar and produced the session. Dave Holland appears on upright bass, and Roy Haynes plays drums. Metheny composed five of the nine tracks. The remainder includes pieces by Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Kern & Hammerstein, and Robison & Hill.

Question and Answer finds Pat Metheny in a bare-trio setting with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Roy Haynes, delivering quick-turn ensemble exchanges and extended improvisations over a sequence of dense uptempo themes and slower ballads. On tracks like “H & H” and “Three Flights Up,” Metheny threads long, rapid phrases over shifting cymbal patterns and tight, reactive bass lines, keeping the harmonic center fluid while maintaining high technical intensity. “Solar” builds on brisk forward momentum, with Metheny playing in sharp, clean bursts while Holland and Haynes alternate between tight comping and short, interwoven accents that border on parallel improvisation. In these faster pieces, the rhythm section pushes constantly—Haynes shifts accents around the snare and ride while Holland pivots underneath, avoiding static phrasing.

Ballads such as “Change of Heart” rely more on spacious chordal voicings and drawn-out single-note runs from Metheny, but the tone of his guitar remains soft and even—occasionally dulling the contour of his lines despite the speed. On Ornette Coleman’s “Law Years,” the trio breaks into looser phrasing, using short motif fragments and rapid group commentary to avoid repetition, though Metheny’s tone retains the same roundness as on the standards. The title track unfolds patiently, with Metheny’s figures moving in and out of rhythmic alignment with Holland’s pulsing bass. “All the Things You Are” offers a more structured vehicle, but again the focus remains on interaction, not the head. The final track introduces a brief synclavier section that contrasts awkwardly with the acoustic interplay that defines the album’s core. Despite the subtlety of Metheny’s tone, the trio’s live-in-studio immediacy and the rhythm section’s sustained tension drive the session’s overall energy.

1. “Solar” (8:27) — written by Miles Davis
2. “Question and Answer” (7:07)
3. “H & H” (6:51)
4. “Never Too Far Away” (5:52)
5. “Law Years” (6:51) — written by Ornette Coleman
6. “Change of Heart” (6:14)
7. “All the Things You Are” (8:26) — written by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II
8. “Old Folks” (6:38) — written by Willard Robison, Dedette Lee Hill
9. “Three Flights Up” (6:10)

Recorded December 21, 1989, at Power Station, New York. Produced by Pat Metheny with associate producers David Oakes and Gil Goldstein. Engineered and mixed by Rob Eaton with assistance from Mat “Boom” Lamonica. Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk. Project coordination by David Sholemson. Design by SHEd; photography by Christopher Kehoe. Liner notes by Rafi Zabor.

Discography:

Jaco Pastorius / Pat Metheny / Bruce Ditmas / Paul Bley (1974)
Bright Size Life (1976)
Watercolors (1977)
Pat Metheny Group (1978 • Pat Metheny Group)
New Chautauqua (1979)
American Garage (1979 • Pat Metheny Group)
80 / 81 (1980)
As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (1981 • Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays)
Offramp (1982 • Pat Metheny Group)
Travels (live, 1983 • Pat Metheny Group)
First Circle (1984 • Pat Metheny Group)
Rejoicing (1984 • Pat Metheny w/ Charlie Haden & Billy Higgins)
The Falcon and the Snowman (OST, 1985 • Pat Metheny Group)
Song X (1986 • Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman)
Still Life (Talking) (1987 • Pat Metheny Group)
Different Trains; Electric Counterpoint guitar (1989 • Steve Reich • Kronos Quartet / Pat Metheny)
Letter From Home (1989 • Pat Metheny Group)
Question and Answer (1990 • Pat Metheny, Dave Holland & Roy Haynes)
Secret Story (1992)
I Can See Your House From Here (1994 • John Scofield & Pat Metheny)
Zero Tolerance for Silence (1994)
We Live Here (1995 • Pat Metheny Group)
Beyond the Missouri Sky (Short Stories) (1997 • Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny)
Imaginary Day (1997 • Pat Metheny Group)
Speaking of Now (2002 • Pat Metheny Group)
One Quiet Night (2003)
The Way Up (2005 • Pat Metheny Group)
Metheny Mehldau (2006 • Metheny / Mehldau)
Day Trip (2008)
Orchestrion (2010)
What’s It All About (2011)
Tap: Book of Angels Volume 20 (2013)
Kin (← →) (2014 • Pat Metheny Unity Group)