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 MethenyRead
There are musicians who go through their lives sort of shedding their skins. For me, I've always felt backward-compatible to Version 1.0.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Musicians often evolve over time, but some prefer to stay true to their original style.
In this quote, Pat Metheny reflects on the journey of musicians and how some choose to reinvent themselves, while he personally feels a connection to his earliest artistic expression. The notion of being 'backward-compatible' suggests a desire to maintain the essence of one’s original self, even as the world and music continue to change around them.
Themes
MusiciansEvolutionIdentityArtSelf
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about artistic integrity at a music festival.
More from Pat Metheny
All quotes →The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.
Pat MethenyRead
...to me if it's anything, jazz is a verb-it's more like a process than it is a thing.
Pat MethenyRead
I think jazz is actually quite unforgiving in its disdain for nostalgia. It demands creativity and change at its highest level.
Pat MethenyRead
The guitar for me is a translation device. It's not a goal. And in some ways, jazz isn't a destination for me. For me, jazz is a vehicle that takes you to the true destination - a musical one that describes all kinds of stuff about the human condition and the way music works.
Pat MethenyRead
I can't really say enough about Chris Potter. He is one of the greatest musicians I have ever known, and every second I have been on the band stand with him has been an absolute pleasure.
Pat MethenyRead
Similar quotes
No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.
Roger EbertRead
The idea of making audiences feel like they matter, that the theatre matters, and that they're a partner in the event—that's what fuels me as a director . . . I believe it's actually radical to think about the audience.
Diane PaulusRead
We get so many people saying short fiction is not economical, that it doesn't sell; but there are so many of us enjoying writing it and reading it. So it's wonderful to be around people who love short fiction too - it's like hanging around with my tribe.
Junot DiazRead
Stories are there to be told, and each story changes with the telling. Time changes them. Logic changes them. Grammar changes them. History changes them. Each story is shifted side-ways by each day that unfolds. Nothing ends. The only thing that matters, as Faulkner once put it, is the human heart in conflict with itself. At the heart of all this is the possibility, or desire, to create a piece of art that talks to the human instinct for recovery and joy.
Colum MccannRead
Play well, or play badly, but play truly.
Constantin StanislavskiRead
After writing a novel, what is there to say? If a novelist could say it in a maxim, they wouldn't need 120,000 words, several years and sundry characters, plots and subplots, and so on. I'd much rather listen always.
Richard FlanaganRead