''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 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 m ...

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

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-standi ...

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 and ...

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, was issued. This film, also called ''Secret Story'', was re-released on DVD in 2001. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on December 1, 1995.

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 databa ...

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, No ...

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 – 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 – 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 Hoope ...

– bass guitar (tracks 4, 6, and 12) * Gil Goldstein – 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 less ...

– 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 – trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9) * Mike Metheny – trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9) * Michael Mossman – trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9) * Dave Bargeron – 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 – 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 – 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 T ...

* 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 pr ...

References

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