80/81
Studio album by
Pat Metheny
Released1980
RecordedMay 26–29, 1980
StudioTalent, Oslo, Norway
GenreJazz, folk jazz
Length80:25
LabelECM 1180/81
ProducerManfred Eicher
Pat Metheny chronology
American Garage
(1979)		 80/81
(1980)		 As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
(1981)

80/81 is a double album by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny recorded over four days in May 1980 and released on ECM later that year. The trio features rhythm section Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette with guest saxophonists Dewey Redman and Michael Brecker.

Background

Metheny toured in the U.S. in fall 1980 with a quartet including Redman, Haden and drummer Paul Motian.[1] In the summer of 1981, he toured Europe with the full 80/81 lineup featured on the album.[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[5]

In a review for AllMusic, Richard S. Ginell wrote that "Metheny's credibility with the jazz community went way up with the release of this package", and called the album "a superb two-CD collaboration with a quartet of outstanding jazz musicians that dared to be uncompromising at a time when most artists would have merely continued pursuing their electric commercial successes."[3]

In an article at Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo called the album a "still-fresh sonic concoction", and noted that "With 80/81, Pat Metheny took one step closer to his dream of working with The Prophet of Freedom (Ornette Coleman) (a dream he finally achieved with 1985's Song X)". He concluded: "Like much of what Metheny produces, 80/81 is wide open in two ways. First in its far-reaching vision, and second it its willingness to embrace the listener. Like a dolly zoom, he enacts an illusion of simultaneous recession and approach, lit like a fuse that leads not to an explosion, but to more fuse."[6]

JazzTimes included the album in an article titled "10 Best Jazz Albums of the 1980s: Critics' Picks", in which Philip Booth stated: "Enlisting four of the musicians he most admired... the 26-year-old guitarist successfully translated the sound in his head to beautifully open, airy, sometimes urgent recordings."[7]

Track listing

Original release

All music is composed by Pat Metheny except as noted

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Two Folk Songs: 1st" 13:17
2."Two Folk Songs: 2nd"Charlie Haden7:31
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."80/81" 7:28
2."The Bat" 5:58
3."Turnaround"Ornette Coleman7:05
Side three
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Open"
  • Metheny
  • DeJohnette
  • Redman
  • Haden
  • Brecker
14:25
2."Pretty Scattered" 6:56
Side four
No.TitleLength
1."Every Day (I Thank You)"13:16
2."Goin' Ahead"3:56

Single CD edition

No.TitleLength
1."Two Folk Songs: One / Two"20:52
2."Every Day (I Thank You)"13:21
3."Goin' Ahead"3:51
4."80/81"7:34
5."The Bat"6:05
6."Turnaround"7:04

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Cooke, Mervyn (2017). Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975–1984. Oxford University Press. pp. 213–214.
  2. ↑ Cooke, Mervyn (2017). Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975–1984. Oxford University Press. p. 153.
  3. 1 2 Ginell, Richard S.. Pat Metheny: 80/81 > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  4. ↑ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 994. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  5. ↑ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 139. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  6. ↑ Grillo, Tyran (October 14, 2011). "Pat Metheny: 80-81 (ECM 1180/81)". Between Sound and Space. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  7. ↑ Booth, Philip (November 23, 2020). "10 Best Jazz Albums of the 1980s: Critics' Picks". JazzTimes. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.