Pat Metheny quotes:

My older brother Mike is an excellent trumpet player. By the time he was 12, he was playing around Kansas City in classical situations. He was already an amazing talent.

The pianist Cecil Taylor is extremely melodic; the guitarist Derek Bailey is extremely melodic, and Ornette Coleman.

If we are going to list guitar influences, the biggest one by far is Wes Montgomery. Also, Gary Burton was obviously huge for me in a number of ways. But beyond that, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard.

I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times.

For me, let's keep jazz as folk music. Let's not make jazz classical music. Let's keep it as street music, as people's everyday-life music. Let's see jazz musicians continue to use the materials, the tools, the spirit of the actual time that they're living in, as what they build their lives as musicians around.

Whatever my recorded output is, it's a reflection of a general love of music.

I was able to work with the best musicians in Kansas City starting when I was really young

The Unity Band' project has been life-changing for me. I have led many groups of talented musicians, but this is unlike anything else.

From 1962 to 1965, the guitar became this icon of youth culture, thanks mostly to the Beatles.

Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.

I don't worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about Jazz.

Most guys at Berklee are going to wind up truck drivers...

From 1962 to 1965, the guitar became this icon of youth culture, thanks mostly to the Beatles

The Unity Band project has been life-changing for me. I have led many groups of talented musicians, but this is unlike anything else.

I'm always trying to find 'connections' between things. That art is the juxtaposition of a lot of things that seem unrelated but add up to something recognizable.

1962 to 1965, where suddenly the guitar became this icon of youth culture all over the world, thanks mostly to the Beatles. Add to that, that I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times, and that the guitar was the one instrument that my parents absolutely refused to let in the house. So you add it up and see that irresistible forces led me to the guitar.

The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.

If you come to my house, you won't see a wall of trophies or things like that. I'm sort of 'on to the next thing' all the time.

I was deep in the zone of practicing almost constantly.

The first thing I learned was the theme from Peter Gunn.

I'm triggering acoustic instruments. I'm literally beating, smacking, hitting, blowing, doing physical things. It's an incredibly exciting way to make music.

When talking about writing, I often use the analogy of archaeology. There are these great tunes all around. Your skill as a musician allows you to pick them out without breaking them.

I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music world and have been able to play exactly what I have wanted the way I have wanted.

I hate the way chorus boxes sound

I met Gary (Burton) at the Wichita Jazz Festival when I was 18 -- he was one of my favorite musicians and I got to play a few tunes with him there. Shortly after that, I joined his band, which was the equivalent of joining the Beatles for me! He was, and still is, one of the greatest musicians I have ever been lucky enough to be around.

I have three young kids and a great family. I love hanging out with them more than anything.

I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music world and have been able to play exactly what I have wanted the way I have wanted

Its more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place.

I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is

There are some musicians who are talented and see themselves as some kind of natural geniuses or something because of a certain amount of natural ability. But that is often rarely the case over the long term.

I would always contend that talent is an element, but over the long run, ultimately, a minor part of it all; it is mostly hard work.

I think jazz is actually quite unforgiving in its disdain for nostalgia. It demands creativity and change at its highest level.

One of the things jazz has always excelled at is translating the reality of the times through its musical prism.

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

Somehow, trumpet is the reference point for me - it was actually my first instrument.

The reality of music itself, which is the fabric of life for me, is where most of my attention is.

...to me if it's anything, jazz is a verb-it's more like a process than it is a thing.

And if I ever DO see [Kenny G] anywhere, at any function - he WILL get a piece of my mind, and maybe a guitar wrapped around his head.

As much as I have done collaborations over the years, I am actually kind of a reluctant partner.

Avant-garde, jazz, pop, classical, country and western, rock, free, straight-ahead, etc. are ultimately meaningless terms in the face of the music being discussed at best - at worst, those terms often serve as code words for what is in fact a cultural / political discussion more than a musical one.

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.

I just have never seen anyone build anything significant in any field without having a deep and detailed sense of what they are building on.

I love playing and working on music. It is something that I feel really lucky to be able to spend my life doing. And I don't sleep much!

I realized that equipment really had little to do with why I sound like the way I sound

I think I have a basic sound aesthetic that is in most of what I do

I think jazz is actually quite unforgiving in its disdain for nostalgia. It demands creativity and change at its highest level,

I think that the melodic piece of the puzzle in music is the most esoteric and difficult to quantify.

I try to be prepared for the moment, through understanding, and being warmed up, knowing all about chords and scales, so I don't even have to think and I can get right to what it is I want to say.

I was deep in the zone of practicing almost constantly

If jazz has to be termed as a wave, then music is a sea, but if the reflectors in the water is the chord.

If you plan on continuing a tradition, it might be a good idea to find out just what tradition it is that you intend to continue.

Im always trying to find connections between things. That art is the juxtaposition of a lot of things that seem unrelated but add up to something recognizable.

It is Jazz's very nature to change, to develop & adapt to the circumstances of its environment.

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.

Jazz demands that you bring to it things that are valuable to you, that are personal to you.

Jazz is an idea that is more powerful than the details of its history.

Jazz music will continue to thrive, possibly in unexpected ways.

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.

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

Music is one big thing to me.

Music is what you notice when it's no longer in your presence...

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.

People sometimes say it takes a long time to become a Jazz fan, but for me it took about five seconds.

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.

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.

Somehow trumpet is the reference point for me it was actually my first instrument,

Sometimes I try to lose my identity, and I can't get rid of it!

The best musicians are not the best players, they're the best listeners.

The main thing in my life...is that I really need to go home and practice.

The more I can learn about music, the more I learn about other things.

There has to be a real strong reason to do something with someone for me.

To me, there are lots of different stories to tell and you usually find the best way to tell the one you are telling once you are in it.

What I look for in musicians is a sense of infinity

My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.

There's more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that's because the audience doesn't really know what's happening.