“Pat Metheny: Stories beyond words” – reflection 9 – from A to Z
I’m delighted to say that the book is now complete and being readied for printing. Release is scheduled for August 5, 2024, to be published by University of Chicago Press.
Here are, for fun, a few words in alphabetical order about various aspects of the book:
A is for appendix (a book’s appendix, that is)
B is for bibliography
C is for chapters
D is for drafts (of the manuscript)
E is for electric guitar
F is for form (of the book and musical form
G is for Gary Burton (who introduced Metheny to Boston and then to the wider world)
H is for historical narrative, a way to treat diverse topics within a chronological frame
I is for index (and introduction)
J is for (book) jacket
K is for kaleidoscopic (discovery of new things by listening to music multiple times)
L is for Linda Manzer, luthier for Metheny’s acoustic guitars and the 42-stringed Pikasso
M is for Metheny (as per the title of this book)
N is for nonaligned (Pat’s way of positioning himself within the musical universe)
O is for Offramp, the first of Pat’s albums that caught my attention upon its release
P is for preface
Q is for quantity (as in word count)
R is for readers (the ones who vetted and reviewed this book and, also, hopefully you)
S is for storytelling, a metaphor that forms a throughline in this book
T is for table of contents
U is for University of Chicago Press, publisher of this book
V is for vocabulary, musical and linguistic
W is for Wes Montgomery (a major early influence on Pat Metheny)
X is for (Song) X, a duo recording with an important influence on Metheny, Ornette Coleman
Y is for I don’t know whY (but as with all things, maintain your curiosity)
Z is the doubled letter in “jazz,” something Metheny refers to as “a verb… more like a process than it is a thing.”
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