Name: Pat Metheny
Start: 2026-03-20T20:00:00-04:00
Location: The National

PAT METHENY
Side-Eye III +
FRI, 20 MAR 2026 at 08:00PM EDT
Ages: All Ages
Doors Open: 07:00PM
OnSale: Fri, 31 Oct 2025 at 10:00AM EDT
Announcement: Mon, 27 Oct 2025 at 10:00AM EDT
Pat Metheny was born in Lee's Summit, MO on August 12, 1954 into a musical family. Startingon trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he wasworking regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-thebandstandexperience at an unusually young age. Metheny first burst onto the international jazzscene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, theyoung Missouri native already displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, whichblended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with anadvanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility: a way of playing and improvising that was modernin conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. With therelease of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional "jazz guitar"sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has continued toredefine the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve theimprovisational and sonic potential of his instrument.
Metheny's versatility is nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performedwith artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock to Jim Hall toMilton Nascimento to David Bowie. Metheny’s body of work includes compositions for sologuitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces andeven the robotic instruments of his Orchestrion project, while always sidestepping the limits ofany one genre.
As well as being an accomplished musician, Metheny has also participated in the academic arenaas a music educator. At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. At 19,he became the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he also received anhonorary doctorate more than twenty years later, in 1996. He has also taught music workshopsall over the world, from the Dutch Royal Conservatory to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazzto clinics in Asia and South America. He has also been a true musical pioneer in the realm ofelectronic music, and was one of the very first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a seriousmusical instrument. Years before the invention of MIDI technology, Metheny was using theSynclavier as a composing tool. He also has been instrumental in the development of several newkinds of guitars such as the soprano acoustic guitar, the 42-string Pikasso guitar, Ibanez’s PMseries jazz guitars, and a variety of other custom instruments.
It is one thing to attain popularity as a musician, but it is another to receive the kind of acclaimMetheny has garnered from critics and peers. Over the years, he has won countless polls as "BestJazz Guitarist" and awards, including three gold records for (Still Life) Talking, Letter fromHome, and Secret Story. He has also won 20 Grammy Awards spread out over a variety ofdifferent categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, BestJazz Instrumental Solo, Best Instrumental Composition at one point winning seven consecutiveGrammys for seven consecutive albums. In 2015 he was inducted into the DownBeat Hall ofFame, becoming only the fourth guitarist to be included (along with Django Reinhardt, CharlieChristian and Wes Montgomery) and its youngest member. In 2018 he was named an NEA JazzMaster, the nation's highest honor in jazz, awarded to the recipients "for their lifetimeachievements and exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz." Metheny has spentmuch of his life on tour, often doing more than 100 shows a year since becoming a bandleader inthe 70’s. At the time of this writing, he continues to be one of the brightest stars of the jazzcommunity, dedicating time to both his own projects and those of emerging artists andestablished veterans alike, helping them to reach their audience as well as realizing their ownartistic visions.
Pat Metheny continues the evolution of Side-Eye with a new tour featuring new music. Side-Eye III+ features Chris Fishman on piano/keyboards, Joe Dyson on dums, and Jermaine Paul on bass.