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# Smooth Jazz Playlists
- URL: https://www.sweatyspice.com/smooth-jazz-playlists/
- Published: 2025-04-29T10:59:12.000Z
- Updated: 2025-07-25T11:59:40.000Z
- Description: A soundtrack to the daily grind, it helps me focus, but sometimes it shocks me out of my trance when a flashback is triggered. Pat Metheny does that to me.
- Author: Geoff Anderson

While working, particularly when I am head down working to a timeline, I listen to music. Partly it is a clue to my subconscious that time is passing, a reminder to not get lost in the numbers or whatever I am grinding away on.

I know I am not alone. One engineering director I worked with had earbuds in when he was in the zone. His choice of poison was EDM[1](#footnote-1). No judgements from me, because at that time I listened to a lot of speed metal (Lamb of God, Slayer and the like).

But as I have aged, my tastes for this soundtrack for concentration have evolved. Lately, I have been tuning into curated playlists on one of the two streaming services I pay for. A lot of the time, it is artists that are just a blur of names, with some notable exceptions. Some Brubeck, or George Benson, or Herbie Hancock will drop in (a downside is that I have to skip over a Kenny G tune or two).

There is one artist that is rarer than hen’s teeth in these playlists: Pat Metheny.

And I just don’t know why. He is in the heart of this genre, and he has quite literally played with EVERYBODY in this world. Hell, back in the day, I saw him and his group live twice in lil’ old San Jose. He is such an influence, I even wrote about him in the past:

[Influences: Pat MethenyIn the early 1980’s I was exploring with my guitar playing, and part of that was listening to many new players and styles. One that I stopped on was from the Jazz realm, a great named Pat Metheny.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/11/f5/11f5bb9f-30c4-445e-afa3-85a47d260f6e/content/images/2025/07/6a06ca87-c22e-4b20-85e1-f3150eafc78f_1024x1024-8.png)Sweaty SpiceGeoff Anderson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/11/f5/11f5bb9f-30c4-445e-afa3-85a47d260f6e/content/images/2025/07/97a26821-cb08-4d85-b3cd-35eb19b0a2db_1627x1867-jpeg.jpg)](https://www.sweatyspice.com/p/influences-pat-metheny)

Anyhow, yesterday afternoon, as I was tucking into a serious Jira session at work, I clicked play on the Apple Music “Smooth Jazz” playlist, and the 4th track in was Pat Metheny’s ethereal intro to Last Train Home, a tune that I discovered probably 40 years ago, it having sent shivers down my spine, and starting a lifetime of listening and appreciating the genius of Pat Metheny.

So, I am sharing this memory with you.

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1. Electronic Dance Music - and no, he did not look like a clubber. [↩](#footnote-anchor-1 "Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.")