POP AND JAZZ REVIEWS : METHENY AT GREEK

Like the WAVE radio station, Pat Metheny doesn’t like commercial announcements to break the flow of his programming.

Thus, in his 2 1/2-hour concert Friday night at the Greek Theater, there was only a “thank you,” a “great to play in L.A.” and a brief introduction of his sidemen from the leader between the closing tune and perfunctory encore.

But the fans who nearly filled the Greek needed no introduction to the guitarist’s tunes. Enthusiastic applause greeted each song, and the leader received no fewer than a dozen standing ovations during the course of his concert.

At 33, Metheny is something of a legend. His profound musical abilities have been lent to a wide variety of styles--styles encompassing elements of free jazz, rock, classical, country and folk that mix and swirl in an attractive totally listenable amalgam for which there is no fit label. Like few other contemporary musicians, Metheny has a sound that is immediately identifiable as his own.

For the listener not intimately familiar with the melodic and rhythmic nuances of each of his recorded efforts (12 albums in 11 years), most of Metheny’s efforts sound alike. Indeed, the melodic and rhythmic variations are all that distinguish one tune from the next as his complex harmonies and synthesized textures (if there’s a brief silence, don’t tell Metheny; he’ll fill it with sound) are what provide an unerring, unchanging musical identity.

Metheny and longtime cohort Lyle Mays, an incredibly talented keyboardist, have institutionalized the Pat Metheny Group sound, rendering the individual efforts of bassest Steve Rodby, drummer Paul Wertico and percussionist Armando Marcal to machinelike effect.

What was missing from all this Friday evening was a sense of fun (although the opening number, a marching-band thing gone awry that had an electronic Charles Ives effect, was hip) and a sense of adventure. Metheny’s efforts were about as spontaneous as a space launch, and the guitarist, whose talents are immense, was left to merely recreate his formulaic music without ever testing or pushing himself.