Search - Pat Metheny :: 80-81 (Comp)

80-81 (Comp)
Pat Metheny
80-81 (Comp)
Genres: Folk, Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (4) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (4) - Disc #2

Guitarist Pat Metheny gets to play with the big boys on this spirited double album. Having made a string of well-received albums with his young band, featuring keyboardist Lyle Mays, Metheny (a former Gary Burton sideman) ...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Pat Metheny
Title: 80-81 (Comp)
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: ECM Records
Release Date: 2/29/2000
Genres: Folk, Jazz, Pop
Styles: Jazz Fusion, Modern Postbebop, Smooth Jazz, Bebop
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 042284316927

Synopsis

Amazon.com essential recording
Guitarist Pat Metheny gets to play with the big boys on this spirited double album. Having made a string of well-received albums with his young band, featuring keyboardist Lyle Mays, Metheny (a former Gary Burton sideman) had graduated to the front rank of youthful jazz and fusion guitarists. He's a warm player with a harmonically sophisticated approach to soloing, and his breezy compositions made him easily approachable for casual listeners but belied the complexity of much of the music. 80/81 is Metheny's musical bar mitzvah: a chance to step up and be counted among the men of the congregation. Instead of his usual band of contemporaries, Metheny opts to work out with four of jazz's most respected graybeards: bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and saxophonists Dewey Redman and Mike Brecker. That both Haden and Redman are long associated with Ornette Coleman is represented by a cover of Coleman's "Turnaround," a surprising move that augured Metheny's own future collaboration with the alto legend (on Song X). Still, in the final analysis, Metheny is the leader and the band plays his music. --Fred Goodman

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CD Reviews

Do not squander!
B. J Lam | littleton, colorado United States | 11/11/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)

"The heading for this review regards your time, your money and Metheny's approach -- only five years into his solo recording career he got right down to business of fulfilling his dream to both pay tribute to and play with Ornette Coleman. The former is done both on this cd and on (the 1984 recording) Rejoicing, the latter on (the 1986 recording) Song X. But, possibly, the most moving music of the three is achieved here. Here he has compiled former Ornette band mates Dewey Redman (tnr sx) and Charlie Haden (bs) with sympathetic musicians Jack DeJohnette (drms) and Michael Brecker(tnr sx, too). The results are impressive. From the Coleman authored "Turnaround" and the "open" jazz of "Open," to the tightly arranged and simply stunning "Every Day" (my friend calls it an "orgasmic" song as the tension builds and builds to its release) and the solo acoustic of "Goin' Ahead" which is better than anything on New Chautauqua (I'm not knocking that cd, but this song is superior in all respects to the music thereon). Pat Meth did not squander this opportunity and, by clicking "buy it," you won't squander yours either."
Jazz essentials, no ornamentation
Douglas Groothuis | 01/22/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is Pat in a truly jazz setting. There are no overdubs, no thick productions (ala later Pat Metheny Group recordings), and no hooks--and no keyboards. (Lyle Mays, not a jazz improvisor, could not have survived this date.) Two of the players--Dewey Redman and Charlie Haden--were bandmates with Ornette Coleman. They know how to get "outside" while remaining in sync with the group. Pat's playing (circa 1981 is satisfying), but not as rich and energized as it can be today (such as on "Pat Metheny Trio, 99-100"). Of course, a less mature Pat is better than 90% of the "mature" jazz guitarists out there. Jack D.'s drumming is always creative and apt."
A sea of Greatness marred by islands of mediocrity
deltafront | Silverdale, WA United States | 08/03/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)

"This double CD set could almost have been whittled down to a single; there are great songs here, but the presence of mediocre ones detracts from the overall quality immensly."Two Folk Songs" is a great track, two songs tied together by a common theme. The saxwork in the first half is stellar, while the sensitive guitar playing in the second counterposes the almost frantic pace of the first half nicely. "80/81" and "Turnaround" would make great Jazz standards; the flowing quality of these great works is rudely interrupted by the watery,predictable smooth jazz of "The Bat." "Open" and "Pretty Scattered are two more great Jazz tracks; "Every Day" is a tolerable jazz-folk hybrid. The set ends on a calm high note, the folksy "Goin Ahead." All in all, this is an excellent release that could have easily stood to loose about twenty minutes of mediocre material."