''Secret Story'' is an album by

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

released in 1992 that won the

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality ...

in 1993. All of the music is composed by Metheny (shared credit on one track), and it is one of his most ambitious studio ventures, integrating elements of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, and world music. On the performing side, it includes collaborations with the

Pinpeat The ''Pinpeat'' ( km, ពិណពាទ្យ, ) is the largest Khmer traditional musical ensemble. It has performed the ceremonial music of the royal courts and temples of Cambodia since ancient times. The orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a ...

Orchestra of the

Royal Ballet of Cambodia The Royal Ballet of Cambodia ( km, របាំព្រះរាជទ្រព្យ) is a dance company of Cambodia, famous for its luxury of costumes, accessories, gold and silver, accompanied by a beautiful soft dance. It is a dance th ...

, the London Orchestra and its conductor Jeremy Lubbock, the Choir of the Cambodian Royal Palace, legendary harmonica player

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar and whistl ...

, and keyboardist

Lyle Mays Lyle David Mays (November 27, 1953 – February 10, 2020) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and member of the Pat Metheny Group. Metheny and Mays composed and arranged nearly all of the group's music, for which Mays won eleven Grammy Awar ...

from

Pat Metheny Group The Pat Metheny Group was an American jazz band founded in 1977. The core members of the group were guitarist, composer and bandleader Pat Metheny; and keyboardist and composer Lyle Mays, who was in the group at its inception. Other long-standing ...

Background

The opening song, "Above the Treetops", is an adaptation of a Cambodian spiritual song; other pieces, such as "Antonia", take influence from Eastern Europe. Japanese pianist and singer

Akiko Yano is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. She has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals an ...

appears on "As a Flower Blossoms", earning the only co-writing credit on the album. Yano had previously collaborated with Metheny on "Good Girl", "Lots of Love", and "Love Life", from her 1991 album ''Love Life'', and on two Metheny covers: "It's for You" on ''Welcome Back'' (1989) (which also featured Metheny performing on two additional songs) and "Praise" on ''Super Folk Song'' (1992). Orchestral arrangements for the album were conducted by Jeremy Lubbock. Metheny took ''Secret Story'' on a concert tour, and a video recording of a live performance at

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer Thom Jurek awarded the album 4.5 stars.

Remaster

In September 2007, the album was released again with noticeably retouched mixes and a bonus CD of five previously unreleased tracks from the same sessions. The remaster was issued on WEA and

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Non ...

Track listing

Note *Bonus CD of the 2007 Deluxe Edition reissue. The numbering for bonus disc tracks 2–4 in the booklet and on the packaging is wrong. The tracklist below is as the music is presented on disc.

Personnel

* Pat Metheny – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards *

Armando Marçal Armando de Souza Marçal, better known as Marçalzinho (born 17 December 1956) is a Brazilian percussionist. Biography Marçal started in music at 14. As the son of Mestre Marçal (1930-1994) who operated the largest Brazilian samba school GRES ...

– percussion (tracks 1–7, 9, and 12) *

Steve Rodby Steve Rodby (born December 9, 1954 in Joliet, Illinois) is an American jazz bassist and producer known for his time with the Pat Metheny Group. Biography Rodby was born in Joliet, Illinois, into a musical family. His father was a music teacher ...

– double bass, bass guitar (tracks 4-7, 9, and 11) *

Paul Wertico Paul Wertico (born January 5, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American drummer. He gained recognition as a member of the Pat Metheny Group from 1983 until 2001, leaving the group to spend more time with his family and to pursue other musical int ...

– drums (tracks 4–5, 7–9, and 11) *

Naná Vasconcelos Juvenal de Holanda Vasconcelos, known as Naná Vasconcelos (2 August 1944 – 9 March 2016), was a Brazilian percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, notable for his work as a solo artist on over two dozen albums, and as a backing musician wi ...

– percussion (tracks 1, 4–5, and 10–12) *

Steve Ferrone Steve Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Average Whi ...

– drums (tracks 3–5, and 12) *

Will Lee William Lee (born William Lubovsky; August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television and film roles, but was best known for playing Mr. Hooper, the original store proprietor of the eponymous Hooper' ...

– bass guitar (tracks 4, 6, and 12) *

Gil Goldstein Gil Goldstein (born November 6, 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American jazz pianist and accordionist. He has won 5 Grammy Awards and he was nominated 8 time Biography He began studying accordion at age 5 after noticing it in The Lawrence We ...

– accordion (tracks 4, 7, and 9) *

– piano, keyboard (tracks 2 and 6) *

– harmonica (tracks 8 and 11) *

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

– double bass (tracks 1 and 8) *

Danny Gottlieb Daniel Richard Gottlieb (born April 18, 1953) is an American drummer. He was a founding member of the Pat Metheny Group and was co-founder of Elements with Mark Egan. Biography Gottlieb was born in New York City on April 18, 1953. He took lesso ...

– cymbal roll, percussion (tracks 3 and 11) *

Mark Ledford Mark Ledford (1960 – November 1, 2004) was an American trumpeter, singer, and guitarist. He was known for his multi-instrumentalism and his membership in the Pat Metheny Group. Music career Ledford grew up in Detroit and attended Berklee Col ...

– vocals (tracks 3 and 4) *

Ryan Kisor Ryan Kisor (born April 12, 1973) is an American jazz trumpeter. A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Kisor learned trumpet from his father, Larry Kisor, and started playing in a local dance band (the Eddie Skeets Orchestra) at age ten. Kisor began clas ...

– trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9) * Mike Metheny – trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9) *

Michael Mossman Michael Philip Mossman (born October 12, 1959) is an American jazz trumpeter. Career Mossman's early career included a tour of Europe with Anthony Braxton in 1978 and tours with Roscoe Mitchell in the early 1980s. He also did session work in the ...

– trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9) *

Dave Bargeron David W. Bargeron (born September 6, 1942) is an American trombonist and tuba player who was a member of the jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears. Career Bargeron was lead trombonist with Clark Terry's Big Band and played bass trombone and tub ...

– trombone, tuba (track 9) * Tom Malone – trombone (track 9) * Dave Taylor – bass trombone (track 9) * John Clark – French horn (track 9) * Andy Findon – flute (track 7) *

Skaila Kanga Skaila Kanga (born in India) is a harpist and Professor Emerita of Harp at the Royal Academy of Music in London. After winning a Junior Exhibition to the Royal Academy of Music for piano, she switched to harp studies at age 17. She studied wit ...

– harp (track 13) * Anthony Jackson – contrabass guitar (track 9) * Sammy Merendino – drums (track 6) *

– vocals (track 10)

Technical

* Pat Metheny – producer * Steve Rodby and

David Oakes Rowan David Oakes (born 14 October 1983) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in the series ''The Pillars of the Earth'', '' The Borgias'', '' The White Queen'', ''Victoria'', '' Vikings: Valhalla'', and for his discursive Natural ...

– co-producers * Mastered by

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

* Recorded Fall-Winter 1991–92 at the Power Station, New York City Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studio One, London, UKAlbum Liner Notes

Awards

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

References

{{Authority control Pat Metheny albums 1992 albums Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album Geffen Records albums