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
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 oneβs original self, even as the world and music continue to change around them.
In practice
In a speech about artistic integrity at a music festival.
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.
The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.
...to me if it's anything, jazz is a verb-it's more like a process than it is a thing.
I think jazz is actually quite unforgiving in its disdain for nostalgia. It demands creativity and change at its highest level.
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.
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.
When you write a song, it may come from a personal space, but it very seldom actually represents you. It comes out of a sort of mood of melancholy, somehow. It's almost theatrical.
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
Print will never die. There's no substitute for the feel of an actual book. I adore physically turning pages, and being able to underline passages and not worrying about dropping them in the bath or running out of power. I also find print books objects of beauty.
Photography is about a single point of a moment. Itβs like stopping time. As everything gets condensed in that forced instant. But if you keep creating these points, they form a line which reflects your life.
What release to write so that one forgets oneself, forgets one's companion, forgets where one is or what one is going to do next to be drenched in sleep or in the sea. Pencils and pads and curling blue sheets alive with letters heap up on the desk.
No matter what anybody thinks about any of them, every record I've done has been done with the same amount of care, anguish, pain, suffering, and joy.
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