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 who bought him an acoustic bass, electric bass, and amp when he was 12. He heard classical music from a young age and was educated in classical until high school when he learned jazz. During high school summers, he went to jazz camps, where he met Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Danny Gottlieb, three of the four members of The Pat Metheny Group.

Rodby played acoustic bass until he graduated from Northwestern University in 1977, when he taught himself how to play electric. He performed in the house band at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, with local and visiting musicians such as Milt Jackson, Joe Henderson, and Art Farmer. He joined the Pat Metheny Group in 1981, starting on electric bass before spending most of his time on acoustic. He spent the next thirty years at Metheny's side, touring, recording, and producing, in Group projects and in Metheny's other projects. With Metheny he earned multiple Grammy awards and nominations, and admiration from critics, magazines, and reader polls.

Rodby collaborated with Fred Simon and Paul McCandless on two albums: ''Since Forever'' and ''Remember the River''. In 2011 he collaborated with Paul Wertico, a former drummer for the Metheny Group, and with Israeli musicians Danny Markovitch and Dani Rabin on Marbin's album ''Breaking the Cycle''.

Since 2018, Rodby has held a position as artist of residence in the faculty of Jazz Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Discography

With Ross Traut
* ''Great Lawn'' (Columbia, 1987)
* ''The Duo Life'' (Columbia, 1991)

As sideman

With Pat Metheny Group
* '' Offramp'' (ECM, 1982) – bassist
* '' Travels'' (ECM, 1983) – bassist
* '' First Circle'' (ECM, 1984) – bassist
* ''The Falcon and the Snowman'' ( EMI, 1985) – bassist, conductor
* ''Still Life (Talking)'' (Geffen Records, 1987) – bassist, co-producer
* '' Letter from Home'' (Geffen Records, 1989) – bassist, co-producer
* '' The Road to You'' (Geffen Records, 1993) – bassist, co-producer
* '' We Live Here'' (Geffen Records, 1995) – bassist, co-producer
* ''Quartet'' (Geffen Records, 1996) – bassist, co-producer
* ''Imaginary Day'' (Warner Bros, 1997) – bassist, co-producer
* '' Speaking of Now'' (Warner Bros, 2002) – bassist, co-producer
* ''The Way Up'' ( Nonesuch, 2005) – bassist, co-producer
With Pat Metheny
* '' Secret Story'' (Geffen Records, 1992) – bassist, co-producer
* '' A Map of the World'' (Warner Bros, 1999) – bassist, co-producer
* '' Trio 99 → 00'' (Warner Bros, 2000) – co-producer
* ''Trio → Live'' (Warner Bros, 2000) – co-producer
* '' Day Trip'' ( Nonesuch, 2008) – co-producer
* ''Tokyo Day Trip'' (Nonesuch, 2008) – co-producer
* ''Orchestrion'' (Nonesuch, 2010) – co-producer
* '' Unity Band'' (Nonesuch, 2012) – co-producer
* ''The Orchestrion Project'' (Nonesuch, 2013) – co-producer
* '' KIN (←→)'' (Nonesuch, 2014) – co-producer
* '' The Unity Sessions'' (Nonesuch, 2016) – co-producer
* ''From This Place'' (Nonesuch, 2020) − co-producer
With Simon & Bard Group
* ''Musaic'' (Flying Fish, 1980) – bassist
* ''Tear It Up'' (Flying Fish, 1982) – bassist
* ''The Enormous Radio'' (Flying Fish, 1984) – bassist
With Michael Brecker
* '' Nearness of You: The Ballad Book'' (Verve Records, 2001) – co-producer
* ''Pilgrimage'' ( Heads Up, 2007) – co-producer
With Eliane Elias