hey are brothers on completely different career tracks.

One brother has been on the road since 1974. The other lives in Kansas City.

Pat Metheny is a critically acclaimed jazz  guitarist known throughout the world.

Older brother and Kansas City resident Mike Metheny also is a musician. He's accomplished on trumpet and flugelhorn and has recorded six compact discs.

Even without blowing a note, Mike Metheny is making a valuable contribution to the local jazz  scene.

He has carved out a niche documenting the lives and careers of talented local jazz  musicians. Metheny is editor of JAM magazine, a publication distributed every two months by the Kansas City Jazz  Ambassadors.

"I have just as much respect for a good writer as a good musician," Mike Metheny told me.

Mike Metheny will put on his musician's hat Friday night, making a cameo appearance at the Coda  Jazz  Fund  benefit  concert.

With his signature black cap on, Mike Metheny played a few tunes that are on his latest compact disc, "Close Enough for Love," in the Blue Room last week.

Like his brother, his musical roots run deep.

He graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in music education.

From 1971 to 1974, he was a trumpeter in the U.S. Army Field Band in Washington.

Mike Metheny went on to earn a master's in music education in 1976 from Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville. Later that year, he took a job as a teacher at Boston's Berklee College of Music.

In Boston, Mike Metheny led his own jazz  quartet. After his stint back east, he returned to Kansas City and started taking journalism courses at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In 1994, Metheny became JAM's editor.

Meanwhile, Pat Metheny's first album, "Bright Size Life," recorded in 1975, drew critical acclaim. Pat Metheny has since gone on to win 14 Grammy Awards.

"We're taking two dramatically different career tracks," Mike Metheny said. "My thing has been more a hodgepodge: recording, teaching and writing."

Now, at 52, Mike Metheny finds playing jazz  and writing about jazz  challenging in their own ways.

"If you miss a note in music, it's out there and everybody knows it," Metheny said. "In writing, you can tweak something before you publish it."

Metheny has interviewed many notable jazz  celebrities, and documenting local jazz  musicians gives him great satisfaction.

"We've been lucky to be able to give some well-deserved exposure to some great local jazz  musicians," Mike Metheny said.

While his brother continues to shine in the spotlight, Mike Metheny prefers to put others in it. Thanks to his knack for it, local jazz  musicians who otherwise might work in obscurity are receiving the attention and recognition they truly deserve.

Tickets to the Coda  Jazz  Fund  Concert may be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (816) 931-3330 or the American Jazz  Museum at (816) 474-6262. To donate to the Coda  Jazz  Fund , make checks payable to the fund  and mail to Coda  Jazz  Fund , P.O. Box 412116, Kansas City, MO 64141-2116.

To reach Steve Penn, call (816) 234-4417 or send e-mail to spenn@kcstar.com.

 

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE KANSAS CITY STAR