Pat Metheny

"More and more as time has gone on, I realize that playing is really more about listening than it is about playing."

"Much like the late, great Allan Holdsworth, Pat Metheny doesn’t so much play jazz as he does his own unearthly variant of it – a kind that no-one else can come close to imitating – which explains why he’s been headhunted by superstars like David Bowie and Joni Mitchell. Metheny is as dimensional as a guitar player can get, having applied his jaw-dropping techniques and theoretical knowledge to all kinds of situations."

"Despite winning a global crossover audience and influencing legions of guitarists, Pat Metheny has described himself as a fusion ‘reactionary’. He deplores what’s often thought of as jazz-rock – bogus intensity, raunchy distortion and interminable one-chord solos. Fusion Metheny-style is lyrical, many-sided, an extension of his quest for maximum expressive scope and his sound: a warm, focused attack, with a kind of soaring radiance enhanced by his innovative use of electronics. A Metheny solo is a flood of melody, a mixture of ecstatic vision and consummate technique."