[8] While playing at a club in Kansas City, Metheny was approached by Bill Lee, a dean at the University of Miami, and offered a scholarship.

[7] He moved to Boston in the early 1970s to teach at the Berklee College of Music under the supervision of jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton[8] and established a reputation as a prodigy.

Metheny released his debut album, Bright Size Life (ECM, 1976), with Jaco Pastorius on bass guitar and Bob Moses on drums.

On First Circle, Argentinian singer and multi-instrumentalist Pedro Aznar joined the group; as drummer, Paul Wertico replaced Gottlieb.

[13] Still Life (Talking) (Geffen, 1987) featured new group members trumpeter Mark Ledford, vocalist David Blamires, and percussionist Armando Marçal.

With Metheny working on multiple projects, it was four years before the release of the next group record, a live album titled The Road to You (Geffen, 1993).

Moving away from the Brazilian-inspired styles which had dominated the releases of the previous ten years, these albums included experiments with hip-hop rhythms, sequenced synthetic drums, free-form improvisation on acoustic instruments, and symphonic signatures, blues, and sonata schemes.

[citation needed] With Speaking of Now (Warner Bros., 2002), new group members were added: drummer Antonio Sánchez from Mexico City, Vietnamese-American trumpeter Cuong Vu, and bassist, vocalist, guitarist, and percussionist Richard Bona from Cameroon.

On The Way Up (Nonesuch, 2005), harmonica player Grégoire Maret from Switzerland was introduced as a new group member, while Bona contributed as a guest musician.

Building on the work of his experimental quartets (see § Side projects), Metheny further explored fringes of the avant-garde on Zero Tolerance for Silence (Geffen, 1994), a solo electric guitar outing.

For the album Orchestrion (Nonesuch, 2010) Metheny hand-crafted an array of elaborate, custom mechanical instruments which allowed him to compose and perform as a one-person orchestra.

In 2012, Metheny formed the Unity Band with Antonio Sánchez on drums, Ben Williams on bass and Chris Potter on saxophone.

In 1983, Metheny and Mays wrote music for the Steppenwolf Theater Company's production of Lyle Kessler's play Orphans.

[15] Metheny ventured into experimental jazz with the quartet releases 80/81 (ECM, 1980), Song X (Geffen, 1986) with Ornette Coleman, and The Sign of Four with Derek Bailey (Knitting Factory Works, 1997).

He collaborated with Polish jazz and folk singer Anna Maria Jopek on Upojenie (Warner Poland, 2002) and Bruce Hornsby on Hot House (RCA, 2005).

He played with Antônio Carlos Jobim as a tribute, in a live performance in Carnegie Hall Salutes The Jazz Masters: Verve 50th Anniversary.

He also worked with, sponsored or helped to make recordings of singer/songwriters from all over the world, such as Pedro Aznar (Argentina), Akiko Yano (Japan), David Bowie (UK), Silje Nergaard (Norway), Noa (Israel), and Anna Maria Jopek (Poland).

[20] Two of Metheny's albums, The Way Up (2005) and Orchestrion (2010), show the influence of American minimalist composer Steve Reich, with rhythmic figures structured around a recurring pulse.

During his 1975 tour with the Gary Burton "Quartet" (five people, including Metheny), he primarily played electric twelve-string guitar against the six-string work of resident guitarist Mick Goodrick.

Ralph Towner was perhaps the first[23] to use acoustic twelve-string guitar extensively in jazz ("The Moors", from Weather Report's I Sing the Body Electric, Columbia, 1972), and Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine made extensive use of acoustic twelve string in alternate tunings at the 1975 Montreux Jazz Festival, later releasing some of the material on their 1976 Twin House album.