Pat Metheny Trio to Perform in CFA on Oct. 25

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Pat Metheny Trio with Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez at 8 p.m. on Oct. 25 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Tickets for the performance will go on sale at 10 a.m. on May 18.

To countless numbers of musicians and jazz fans around the world, Pat Metheny needs no introduction. He first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, he displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional "jazz guitar" sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument.

Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie. It is one thing to attain popularity as a musician, but it is another to receive the kind of acclaim Metheny has garnered from critics and peers. Metheny has won countless polls as "Best Jazz Guitarist" and numerous awards including three gold records and 15 Grammy Awards.

Christian McBride has arguably become the most acclaimed acoustic and electric bassist to emerge from the jazz world. While jazz lies at the root of McBride's accomplishments, his passion for musical diversity has led him to work with everyone from Chick Corea to Pat Metheny, from Kathleen Battle to D'Angelo, from Diana Krall to Bruce Hornsby, from Quincy Jones to Sting. Given the bass is the heart and soul of any style of music, this makes Christian McBride's versatility that much more impressive.

In 1992, McBride was also named Rolling Stone magazine's "Hot Jazz Artist." The next year, he truly proved it as a member of Metheny's "Special Quartet." In addition to all of his solo recordings, throughout the past decade McBride has been featured on more than 200 recordings and has toured and/or recorded with artists such as David Sanborn, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Chaka Khan, Joe Henderson, Betty Carter, Milt Jackson, Peabo Bryson, Ray Brown, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin and Isaac Hayes.

Antonio Sanchez started playing drums at the age of 5. After a few years of private study he started performing in a wide variety of musical situations, ranging from rock to jazz and Latin to fusion with several bands in his native Mexico City. After graduating magna cum laude from Boston's Berklee College of Music, Sanchez obtained a scholarship for a master's degree in jazz improvisation at the New England Conservatory in Boston. A few months into his studies at the Conservatory, Paquito D'Rivera invited Sanchez to join Dizzy Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra. The orchestra embarked on a long tour catapulting Sanchez into the international jazz scene. Shortly thereafter he was offered the drum chair of the Pat Metheny Group for their upcoming recordings and tours.

Tickets for Pat Metheny Trio are $38, $30, students $25. Tickets are available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Center for the Arts Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations, including Kaufmann's. To charge tickets, call 852-5000; in Canada, call 1-416-870-8000. For group sales, call 645-6771. For more information, call 645-ARTS. The Center for the Arts is a Ticketfast location. Students (of any school) must present valid student ID at the Center Box Office to receive discount.