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shenavall May 11 2026 at 5:33 PM	Pat’s 4 solo guitar records of the 21st century are not really my favourite part of his discography. These mostly baritone guitar contemplations just don’t grab me. But there are a couple of really good tracks on each record (eg Falcon Love, Sounds of Silence, Never was Love...) so I decided to make a personal playlist compiling my favourite Pat solo tracks. Of course you’d have to include the wonderful Goin’ Ahead from 80/81 too. Then I dug out the long forgotten (by me at least) New Chautauqua to see what it could offer my playlist (though I remembered it had a lot of overdubs so maybe it doesn’t count!). Wow what a breath of fresh air! Rediscovering it has been like a gift from the Gods, I can’t stop playing it. Quite a lot of sonic variety in there and really beautiful melodies. Give it another listen if like me you’d forgotten it.
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MarcNebo Jun 18 2026 at 9:18 AM	Willbur: I agree with your comments. Like a Diamond Pat has many facets and Tap (Pat backwards) is one of them. It had great liner notes from John Zorn and Pat. I was surprised by the mutual admiration, mostly because some of Zorn’s compositions are out there. I remember reading that Zorn told Pat to take his compositions and make them his own. I thought the end result was similar to Song X and another Pat solo (mostly) masterpiece. Maybe nine years ago there was a day-long John Zorn event at the Art Institute of Chicago with probably a dozen or more performances with a herd of musicians in various ensembles. I saw Bill Frisell with Kenny Wolleson, and another musician. Julian Lage and another guitarist performed a duo in front of Picasso’s guitarist painting. John Zorn wrote all the compositions performed that day and let the musicians improvise. Zorn was sitting on the floor directly across from me. Every time I looked at him he was smiling.
Willbur Jun 14 2026 at 4:36 PM	Tap is all Zorn compositions and it showcases a side of Pat I’d like to hear more often; that is a tone that’s a bit more abrasive than Pat’s all-too-familiar semi- hollow body tone. Pat really breaks loose on a few intense solos - and I personally love that side of him. Course I like that type of playing as I’m a fan of Marc Ribot, Ben Monder, Nels Cline and the intense side of Bill Frisell, for instance. Jam on, Pat!!
MarcNebo Jun 11 2026 at 9:04 AM	shenavall: Have you heard the Pat Metheny/Tap record? It is mostly Pat playing all the instruments, but Antonio Sanchez is on one or two tracks. It was a Pat & John Zorn project. Check out Media above and scroll to Music. I think it’s another great record from Pat. Also, another collaboration with another musician that didn’t look good on paper but was excellent. The liner notes in Tap were really cool; Pat raved about Zorn and Zorn about Pat. The other collab was the Pat and Ornette Coleman record. I think you might like it.
shenavall Jun 07 2026 at 2:02 PM	Yes I caught that tour and I agree 100percent. He was really chatty too.
MarcNebo May 16 2026 at 9:10 AM	Were you able to catch the Dream Box or MoonDial tour? I thought it was one of the best Pat Metheny shows ever (out of fifty shows). It was like those one-man shows were the actor plays multiple characters. Pat played compositions from his solo projects, duets from his record with Charlie Haden, and recreated other songs with an arsenal of guitars that he looped (?) and a mini version Orchestrion. I personally liked all his solo records starting with New Chautauqua thru MoonDial (including Orchestrion). I read Pat’s notes on the records and any other articles regarding each release which made me appreciate them even more. When I saw the John Pizzarelli Trio live several years ago, John played James and Last Train Home solo. Before he started, he mentioned that many of Pat’s songs are very complex and difficult to play.
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