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Eric Nemeyer, over at JazzImprov Magazine, has interviewed many great jazz musicians, both legends and up-and-comers. He's a terrific interviewer because he's also a really great vibraphonist and hence asks questions many musicians would want to know of their colleagues.

His latest interview is with the guitarist, Pat Metheny and he starts out with this question:

JI: Could you talk about the process when someone is trying to imitate, lets say, Trane or name an artist. They're not going through the same experiences philosophically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually that shaped and molded the personality that resulted in the creation of that original sound or music. You can copy the notes, but there's that underlying it that you're addressing, that can't be duplicated.

Pat's answer is long, so you should read the entire interview to get a unique perspective on how he thinks about this music and the world around him:

PM: This is an important issue given the nature of this magazine and the context of this interview, too. It's all about balance, like most everything is. The opportunity that exists for us as modern humans in this world that we live in right now, is staggering; to the point of being almost unspeakable. It's such an incredible blessing for all of us that we have the chance to listen to John Coltrane who is no longer on this earth, forever, by way of his recordings. It's unbelievable. It's one of the greatest things that has ever happened - and fill in the blank about whatever great music you ever want to talk about that is also available through recordings. I think we're all in a state of culture shock in a way about what that means to us. It's slightly confusing because we have available to us, not only John Coltrane, but everybody else who ever played great at any moment in time, with our iPods and our internet. If you want to hear sixteen different versions of, The Song is You, just type that in on iTunes Music Store. It's the greatest tool for learning that ever could possibly be. It's fantastic!

Check out the rest of the interview and make sure you visit JazzImprov's main page, where you can download the magazine for free. It's one of New York City's gems of the jazz publication world. Support Eric's magazine and this great music!

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