donn@utah-gr.UUCP (Donn Seeley) (01/14/85)
Metheny made the cover of the January Down Beat magazine... The interview is not exactly deep but it does contain a few interesting items. There is a good deal of information on digital synthesizers (the article is titled 'Pat Metheny's Digital Manifesto'); apparently Metheny is so enthusiastic about the Synclavier that it has become his main compositional tool, and he now does seminars on it for New England Digital. Metheny has now done a number of movie soundtracks, including UNDER FIRE (with Jerry Goldsmith), THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN (with Lyle Mays) and LITTLE SISTER (all by himself with a Synclavier guitar). Metheny discusses his band members, both from the Group and from the 'Rejoicing' band; despite the discussion here not too long ago, he's very supportive of Lyle Mays, and he's clearly in awe of Charlie Haden. He talks about musical influences: I really didn't make a stylistic distinction between Ornette and the Beatles and the Beach Boys and Miles. The only category I was sure of was 'music my parents didn't like'. It wasn't marching band music, which my family was into, and it wasn't country and western, which was in the air around Lee's Summit. It was this other thing that I'd listen to by myself down in the basement. This helps explain why he's such an incredibly eclectic composer... The article mentions the possibility that Metheny might tour with Higgins, Haden and Ornette Coleman himself... That would sure be interesting. The same issue has a review of FIRST CIRCLE which gives it 5 stars (highest rating), Donn Seeley University of Utah CS Dept donn@utah-cs.arpa 40 46' 6"N 111 50' 34"W (801) 581-5668 decvax!utah-cs!donn