Pat Metheny Group - American Garage

The year is 1978, and I am a junior at Platte County R-III high school, sitting Biology II learning something about critters or plants that I have long since forgotten. Our teacher, Mr. Goodlet, decides to show a film series called The Search for Solutions. Way back then we actually had projectors and physical reels of file that got shown in class instead of the day’s lectures. We liked that. Plus, The Search for Solutions was good. A series of films on novel science projects that were actually quite interesting.

What stood out for me and my best friend Bryan Pearce was the music. Modern, guitar-based jazz that we just had to find. The Search for Solutions became the search for a theme song. We found it. Not only did we find it, Bryan had a cassette of the album that it came from. “The Search” from Pat Metheny Group’s American Garage. We rode around in Bryan’s Honda Civic listening to that cassette over and over. “The Search” featured a piano solo from Lyle Mays that is as close to perfect as anything I’ve heard. Simple theme, add some tension, rise up, then bring it home. Just about perfect.

Of course Pat and Lyle went on to make a ton of amazing albums. American Garage doesn’t get much love these days, but it was important for me. Music that was jazz, but was modern and fresh. It made us think about music and thinking is good. Today was a great day at the record store. I found a near mint copy of American Garage and snapped it up immediately. Now I just need a Frisbee, Honda Civic and my old buddies Bryan and Lloyd Warden to make it perfect.