Pat Metheny Group
American jazz fusion group
The Pat Metheny Group was an American jazz fusion band founded in 1977 by guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, along with his core collaborating partner, pianist, keyboardist and composer Lyle Mays. Other long-standing members included bassist and producer Steve Rodby from 1981 to 2010, and drummer Paul Wertico from 1983 to 2001, after which Antonio Sanchez became the drummer from 2002 to 2010. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Pedro Aznar was also a long-time member, performing with the group from 1984 to 1993. In addition to a core quartet, the group was often joined by a variety of other multi-instrumentalists expanding the size to between five and eight musicians.
History
1970s
Founder Pat Metheny first emerged on the jazz scene in the mid-1970s with a pair of solo albums. First was Bright Size Life, released in 1976, a trio album with bass guitarist Jaco Pastorius and drummer Bob Moses. The next album, released in 1977, was Watercolors, featuring Eberhard Weber on bass, pianist Lyle Mays, and drummer Danny Gottlieb.
In 1977, bassist Mark Egan joined Metheny, Mays, and Gottlieb to form the Pat Metheny Group. ECM released the album Pat Metheny Group in 1978 with songs co-written by Metheny and Mays. Pat Metheny Group showcased Mays' use of the Oberheim synthesizer, which became an integral part of the group's sound.
“Pat Metheny Group” enters the record as american jazz fusion group. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Metheny, Group and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q985460. VIAF identifies the subject as 121316219. The Library of Congress control number is n78097120. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1977, 1981, 2010 and 1983.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pat Metheny Group” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.