Pat Metheny Plays With Definitions

“I like to think of jazz,” guitarist Pat Metheny says, “as a verb, not a noun. It’s process, a way of thinking, not a result.”

It’s also a definition, in a nutshell, of the music of a highly visible and eminently successful jazz artist with nine Grammys among his catalog of awards. Friday night the Metheny Group performs at the Universal Amphitheatre, one of the few jazz acts capable of drawing an audience to such a large venue.

And what is startling about Metheny’s far-reaching popularity is that it has been accomplished without compromising his musical beliefs.

“Our level of success doesn’t seem to fit in with any of the cookie-cutter versions of jazz,” Metheny says. “And that’s fine with me. The spirit of discovery, no matter what we’re doing at any given time, is what matters to us.”

Metheny, 43, has persistently underscored his musical open-mindedness with far-ranging musical expeditions. In addition to his work with his own group, he has recorded with Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock and Gary Burton, among others.

“I don’t divide things,” he says. “The whole idea of idiom for me, especially in the last 10 years or so, has no meaning. . . . I think the whole idea of trying to relegate modern music into these different idiomatic subgroups is a waste of energy.”

The Metheny Group’s latest album, “Imaginary Day” (Warner Bros.), is an example of the guitarist’s belief in an idiom-less approach to music. A suite-like collection of works that moves freely across musical borders, unrestricted by stylistic limitations, the album features a typically imaginative use of studio sounds, as well as Metheny’s performances on a fretless acoustic guitar, a 42-string “pikasso guitar” and the VG-8 Roland guitar audio work station (“an incredible tool,” Metheny says, “for manipulating the amplified sound of what your guitar delivers to the listener”).

“Each record we’ve made,” he notes, “has become more of a challenge as we’ve shifted toward thinking of the record as an end result in itself, and as we’ve expanded our sense of the recording studio as almost an instrument within itself. And that’s where the challenge comes in: Can we do it all live? Can we make the transition from what the record was to what we do in performance? And, to everyone’s surprise, ‘Imaginary Day’ has turned out to be one of the best transitions we’ve ever made from what we did in the studio to what we do onstage.”

The Metheny Group will perform selections from “Imaginary Day” in its appearance at Universal, as well as some high-point items from the group’s lengthy recorded history. The performance will be one stop in an extended tour to support the album, the kind of continuous schedule that has been part of Metheny’s lifestyle for decades.

“I actually lived on the road for about 10 years,” he says, “up until about two years ago. I was traveling so much that it didn’t make sense to have a real place.

“But I’ve got no complaints,” Metheny adds. “Playing 200 or more gigs a year is real different from doing a month of festivals and something here and there throughout the year. And, to me, it’s a privilege to get to spend that much time with the music in a live performance situation.”

BE THERE

The Pat Metheny Group, Friday at Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, (818) 622-4440, 8:15 p.m. Ticket prices: $20, $30, $40 and $50. $15 for students with college ID.