Part of what makes him great. He sounds like himself!
I USED to think that way, but not anymore.
I've been listening to Metheny since 1975. I've seen him several times in concert during those 30 years. He used to be at the forefront of modern jazz. His significance has taken a rather large downfall over the last 10 years or so.
There's a reason why true straight ahead players like Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Bruno, Peter Bernstein, Jack Wilkens, Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, (damn lazy pop-star) George Benson....... sound so good. Because they are straight ahead jazz guitarists.
BTW, "fusion" genius Kurt Rosenwinkel is a fabulous straight ahead jazz guitarIST, as heard on his CD "Intuit". Implicit in the reference is that I believe him to be a far superior straight ahead player than "fusion" genius Pat Metheny.
This post makes no sense. Metheny "used" to be at the forefront of modern jazz but now that he's not (in your opinion) he is irrelevant? One could easily say the same thing about that list of yours... all those cats, with the exception of Benson who rarely plays straight ahead anymore, are all stylistically similair and that style is one that was formed 50 years ago or more. Talk about being irrelevant.
Not to say those players aren't good players or to say I don't enjoy listening to them (I love Peter Bernstein) but it seems like you're contradicting yourself.