Pat Metheny shares the secret to his longstanding career

Thanks for joining us today, congrats on the new album and new label. I’m always fascinated by people in the creative arts, whether it be filmmaking or painting, maybe writing a book or being a musician. When it comes to the creative process and given the emotional commitment that these works entail, how do you continue to deliver at such a high level?

Well, it’s hard for me to be objective about anything actually because I’m so in the middle of it all. For me, it’s kind of like breathing almost, I’m just somebody who wakes up every morning with more ideas than I have the time to execute. Combined with that, it’s just a lot of fun for me to have been able to live a life as a musician and really do my best to try to understand music. I feel very lucky that I’ve been given opportunities to be able to keep the research going and to be able to keep investigating the kind of things that interest me. I feel incredibly privileged to be able to live a life inside of music, especially in a world where there’s a lot of weird stuff, as musicians we get to trade in that currency of something that is fundamentally true. I wake up every day very grateful to be able to live a life as a musician.

Side-Eye III features the core trio with you on guitar, Chris Fishman on keys and Joe Dyson on drums. But you’ve brought in a number of musicians to play on the sessions. More than 50 years ago, you were afforded the opportunity to play with one of your heroes, Gary Burton. As a bandleader, how important is it to create opportunities for young musicians?

Well, I was such the beneficiary of that, certainly with Gary, but even before that in Kansas City starting about when I was 15 or so. I started getting gigs with the best musicians in town, all of whom were way older than me then. Across time, I’ve had the benefit of getting to play with Herbie Hancock, Gary [Burton], Steve Swallow, Ron Carter more recently. To me, there are so many things about the experience of being on a bandstand with people who have achieved a certain level through their experience and their musicianship that as a young player you can’t get that any other way.

So, as time has go on, I’ve had bands where there have been people a lot older than me, people my age and now people younger than me. The truth is, once somebody goes ‘1,2,3,4, time to play,’ it doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or you’re 90, we’re all going have to hang. At the same time, we’re all at a point chronologically where…when I started the Side-Eye thing not even ten years ago, my goal was to hire younger musicians but at this point, being where I’m at, the only two people not younger than me are Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock. Everybody else is younger than me!

It’s also following my interest as a fan of the music, I’m very aware of all the younger people playing, I follow them closely, I go hear a lot of people because I’m always looking for people. It’s actually hard for me to find people who fit exactly what it is I’m trying to look for. What’s great is that Chris Fishman and Joe Dyson, the trio with those two guys is one of the best groups I’ve ever had. It’s really special the way we can do whatever it is that we do. With the tour, I added two other people just to give us the possibility of doing stuff from the record, even if it’s in a modified way. With Jermaine Paul on bass and Leonard Patton who is a singer and percussionist, with those two guys we can really do anything. In fact, with that lineup now, it’s been incredible night after night to the point where as soon as the tour is over, we’re going to go into the studio and make a new record with this lineup. It’s been a lot of fun to have the possibility of being around those guys and in a way, it doesn’t really matter that much what age anybody is….chronology is secondary to spirit.

This interview have been edited and condensed for clarity.