Advance promotional material for the Pat Metheny in Kansas City: The Genesis of Genius presentation at Polsky Theatre on Thursday, March 3, included the advisory “Pat Metheny will not be attending this event.” The sadly unnecessary disclaimer underscored an unfortunate truth.
Despite playing in more than four dozen American cities including Detroit during the past year, the hard-touring musician from nearby Lee’s Summit once again passed over the Kansas City area. Metheny last performed within the city limits in 2012. He subsequently played a poorly attended concert in Topeka in 2014.
Forty people attended the free noontime event on Thursday. The lecture by Carolyn Glenn Brewer, the author of the 2021 book Beneath Missouri Skies: Pat Metheny in Kansas City 1964-1972, was interspersed with performances of corresponding selections by guitarist Rob Whitsitt, bassist Tim Brewer and drummer Mike Warren.
The trio played polite versions of compositions Brewer selected as particularly meaningful to Metheny’s development. Images of album covers and black-and-white photographs accentuated the presentation. While plainly not as fulfilling as an actual Metheny concert, the ambitious offering was a commendable consolation prize.
Set list: Seven Steps to Heaven, Unit 7, John McKee, Broadway Blues, Walter L., Bright Size Life