The Unity Band project has been life-changing for me. I have led many groups of talented musicians, but this is unlike anything else. Pat Metheny More Quotes by Pat Metheny More Quotes From Pat Metheny My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener. Pat Metheny jazzmusicfirsts One very fundamental thing has not changed and I realized that it will never change... is that I really need to go home and practice. Pat Metheny changepracticehome Listening is the key to everything good in music. Pat Metheny guitarmusickeys The best musicians are not the best players, they're the best listeners. Pat Metheny best-playersmusicianplayer Learning to play is mostly about learning to hear, and learning to really listen deeply to sound in a musical way is a lifetime's worth of work. Pat Metheny musicalsoundplay Smokin' at the Half Note is the absolute greatest jazz-guitar album ever made. It is also the record that taught me how to play. Pat Metheny albumsguitarplay There's more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that's because the audience doesn't really know what's happening. Pat Metheny audiencejazzform People sometimes say it takes a long time to become a Jazz fan, but for me it took about five seconds. Pat Metheny musiclongpeople Most guys at Berklee are going to wind up truck drivers. Pat Metheny jazzguywind More and more as time has gone on, I realize that playing is really more about listening than it is about playing. Pat Metheny realizinggonelistening Players get to that intermediate level where they can already play pretty good, and that's kind of a dangerous period because they tend to start playing only the things that they can play, rather than the things they can't. Pat Metheny levelskindplayer Jazz is an idea that is more powerful than the details of its history. Pat Metheny musicpowerfulideas I have to admit that more and more lately, the whole idea of jazz as an idiom is one that I've completely rejected. I just don't see it as an idiomatic thing any more...To me, if jazz is anything, it's a process, and maybe a verb, but it's not a thing. It's a form that demands that you bring to it things athat are valuable to you, that are personal to you. That, for me, is a pretty serious distinction that doesn't have anything to do with blues, or swing, or any of these other things that tend to be listed as essentials in order for music to be jazz with a capital J. Pat Metheny swingsorderideas Jazz demands that you bring to it things that are valuable to you, that are personal to you. Pat Metheny demandjazzmusic It is Jazz's very nature to change, to develop & adapt to the circumstances of its environment. Pat Metheny environmentjazzmusic The main thing in my life...is that I really need to go home and practice. Pat Metheny practicehomeneeds Music is one big thing to me. Pat Metheny big-thingsmusic-isbigs The more I can learn about music, the more I learn about other things. Pat Metheny i-can Its more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place. Pat Metheny hardwaresoulspirit It's a shame that jazz is now being turned into dried fruit. It's becoming quantized, diced and defined. It's becoming an idiom. To me if it's anything, jazz is a verb ? it's more like a process than it is a thing. Pat Metheny fruitverbsbecoming
