Pat Metheny: Side-Eye III+
Lineup: Pat Metheny – guitar; Chris Fishman – piano, keyboards; Jermaine Paul – bass; Joe Dyson – drums
His music transcends genres, as evidenced by the Grammy Awards he has won in ten different categories – from new age, pop and country to jazz, naturally, most of them in the last named category, which makes him the only artist ever to have achieved this. He has a total of twenty gold records and three gold albums, as well as an impressive songbook of jazz standards.
It goes without saying that working with a roster of artists as diverse as Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Joni Mitchell, and David Bowie calls for tremendous musical versatility and the corresponding technical virtuosity. He cites Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery and The Beatles as having the biggest impact on his music.
Metheny has been a key player in fusion jazz for the past four decades, with a broad community of followers, also satisfying their preferences for experimentation. We have consistently followed his artistic development, hosting Metheny with different line-ups at the Jazz Festival Ljubljana three times, most recently nine years ago. The Pat Metheny Group, active since 1978 with various changes in personnel, has decisively shaped the development of the jazz fusion genre and allowed him to evolve his distinctive lyricism under the auspices of ECM Records.
He composes contemporary classical and film music, dreamy solo ballads, and virtuoso pieces, creating a canon of new standards, while also keeping an eye out for young new talents with whom to share his vision. Thus, in 2016, which many in the US see as the advent of a new dark age, Metheny started the Side-Eye project. The name is slang for “raising an eyebrow,” being sceptical, distrustful, or disapproving, which is how the world has been looking at the US since 2016. Among the first to be invited to his home studio were two brilliant musicians, pianist James Francis and drummer Marcus Gilmore; their Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV) album instantly earned a Grammy nomination.
The latest core lineup of the Side-Eye III+ project consists of Chris Fishman, a drummer-turned-pianist from the Louis Cole (Knower) orbit and the rising drumming star Joe Dyson, who brings New Orleans–style vehemence to the trio and has inspired Metheny to write several new compositions specifically for this trio. At Ljubljana Jazz Festival the non-classical guitar–piano–drums trio will be joined by Californian musical up-and-comer on bass, Jermaine Paul. Their newest album is set for release at the end of February this year on Pat Metheny’s newly founded label, Uniquity Music, which from now on will house of Metheny’s entire catalogue from 1984 and onward.
- Tickets (standing tickets): presale (until June 30): 45, 36* EUR , regular price: 50, 40* EUR
* Discounted admission prices for people younger than 25, older than 65 and retirees