Pat Metheny Group: Speaking of Now: Introduction

After a hiatus of three years since the Group wrapped up its previous Imaginary Day tour, Metheny began formulating plans for a new lineup and recording of the PMG in early 2001. Says Metheny "One of the prime factors that has allowed the band to go on and on for this many years has been the concept of designating fairly significant periods of open time between each of our major projects and the usually several year long tours that follow the release of a new record. This gives all of us the chance to go off and do our own individual things of course, but it also gives us time to think about what we can do next time when we do get back together -- how to improve and expand on the basic premise of what we are about each time. For me, having spent the majority of my off time this time working in a trio situation, which i love, i have to admit that i was very excited to get back the bigger sound and the endless stylistic opportunities that the PMG situation offers like never before. As much as I love the many and varied activities that I am afforded the chance to explore outside of the Group, there are so many things that the Group's open ended format provide that just simply don't exist anywhere else in music for me. And I think that as the years have gone by we all have an appreciation of how lucky we are to be able to continue our collective research in this very special environment of intensely working together and exploring the range of possibilities that music in it's broadest sense offers us like we do."